When the Past Doesn't Die!
by sookuke-adek
Summary: Goku and Vegeta encounter a wormhole while training in deep space. They're sucked in and transported to a reality where Vegetasei wasn't destroyed by Frieza. How did Bardock save the planet? And, is the threat really gone or is it just beginning?
1. Spatial Phenomenon

**WHEN THE PAST DOESN'T DIE**

**SUMMARY:** Goku and Vegeta encounter an anomaly while training aboard their spaceship. They are sucked in by it and transported to an alternate past where Vegeta-sei still exists. What happened different in this timeline that allowed the Saiyans to survive Frieza's wrath? And how will this detail affect the lives of the galaxy's greatest warriors?

**DISCLAIMER:** I own nothing of Dragonball Z/GT.

'_Italic text' _Characters' thoughts.

"_**Bold Italics**_" Computers' voice.

**CHAPTER 1: SPATIAL PHENOMENON**

Deep space…

In the gravity room aboard the Capsule Ship markIII two warriors clashed with a thunderous boom. Goku and Vegeta had matched each other blow for blow and were now locked in a stalemate. Each man fought to push the others' energy back, neither succeeding in budging more than a few millimeters in either direction. After a few minutes Vegeta grew tired of this and surged his remaining Super Saiyan three power into the beam in hopes of forcing Goku to back off. Goku jumped back in surprise at Vegeta's sudden increase. Vegeta smirked at this and pushed the beam steadily toward Goku. Goku regained his composure and realized what Vegeta was doing. He had thought they were equally matched as Super Saiyan three's but Vegeta was apparently holding out. So Goku tapped into his Super Saiyan four energy, without transforming, and cancelled out the beam leaving two extremely exhausted Saiyans in their normal forms.

"Kakarot…" Vegeta panted, "You…Suck."

Goku just flashed his famous Son grin and passed out on the floor, Vegeta followed suit.

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Vegeta woke up some time later and guessed by the size of Goku's drool puddle, it had been at least three hours. He stood up in the one thousand times gravity environment and felt the pull way more intensely due to his normal form. He had to focus everything he had to keep himself upright. He looked over to Goku who was in a labored sleep and caught sight of his tail as it twitched independantly.

'_That bastard, if I still had my tail I'd be able to show him a thing or two_.'

He stood there staring at Goku's tail and considered cutting it off for a second, but decided that it would be dishonorable of him to betray his friend slash ally that had saved him and his family more than once.

"Damn you" he simply stated before leaving the GR chamber.

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Dinner was silent as usual. Vegeta wasn't one for small talk and Goku only paused from his binge long enough to catch his breath. Vegeta had only agreed to come along on Goku's training mission because he wanted to attain Super Saiyan three and couldn't stand the thought of 'Kakarot's first spawn' surpassing him with that stupid Mystic form.

Their one year journey had nearly come to an end and he was ready to get away from Goku and his annoying habits. His thoughts dwelled on his family and how they were doing. He missed his children and most especially his wife. He couldn't wait to jump her bones when he got home. Vegeta chuckled to himself and a small grin spread across his face as his thoughts about his wife turned dirty.

Goku stopped eating when he noticed Vegeta's grin and he knew what it was for. Goku himself had been feeling the void of his wife's absence. It wasn't just the cooking or the lovin' he missed, although both were extremely good. Even at her age, Chi-Chi's body was as fit as ever. She had slim muscle-toned legs, a tight stomach, a full rack, and an ass that was perfectly shaped. '_Oh yeah'_, he drooled. Goku soon found himself so consumed in his thoughts that he let his food get cold.

Both Saiyans were snapped out of their individual trances as turbulence rocked the ship. They both ditched the kitchen in favor of the command center.

"Computer, Report!" Goku yelled over the creaking hull.

The calm monotonous feminine tone replied, "_**An unknown anomaly is disrupting our plotted trajectory**_."

"What does that mean?" Goku asked dumbly while scratching the back of his head.

"You truly are dense aren't you Kakarot. It means that it's most likely a wormhole or an ion storm and its gravitational forces are pulling us off course."

"Wow, Vegeta, I had no idea that you knew about that kind of stuff."

"I had a few run-ins with spatial phenomenon during my years as a super-elite."

"So how do we get outta this then?"

"Computer," Vegeta called, ignoring Goku, "Scan for concentrated neutrinos and any subspace instability within the anomaly!"

"_**Subspace instability, negative. Concentrated neutrinos, positive**_."

'_Hmmm… Two possible conclusions_' thought Vegeta, '_I can only think of two phenomenons that emit neutrinos, black holes and wormholes. Black holes severely tear up subspace and obliterate anything they devour, so it can't be a black hole. It must be a wormhole because we couldn't be this close to a black hole and still be alive. Chronotrons are the answer._'

"Computer," he once again commanded, "Scan for chronotron fluctuations."

"_**High levels detected within the anomalies core. Time distortions are becoming more violent. WARNING! The spatial turbulence poses a threat to the sensitive components of the engines. It is recommended that a course correction be made to compensate for the pull and avoid getting to close**_."

"Divert power to the thrusters and move us away from here."

"_**Stand by**_."

Goku and Vegeta strapped themselves in to prepare for rapid acceleration but nothing happened. They waited a couple more minutes and still there was nothing.

"Computer, what is our position relative to the anomaly and why haven't we moved yet?"

"_**We are caught in the event horizon and there is insufficient power to break us free**_."

"What?" both Vegeta and Goku shouted at the same time.

"Shit!" Vegeta cursed to himself, "I forgot to turn the GR off before I left you in there."

"No big deal, Vegeta, we'll turn it off later."

"You don't understand! That is the reason we have insufficient power!"

"Oh…" Goku trailed off and thought for a moment. "I got it! Computer, prepare the engines to accept power directly from Vegeta and I."

Vegeta stared at Goku for a moment, surprised at how quickly he was able to find a solution under such pressure.

"Come on" said Goku with his serious face on.

Goku and Vegeta took the lift to the lower level of the ship. When they got to the engine room the glass panel that shielded the power converters was slid open. They approached the converters and took a power up stance. Goku turned to Vegeta who gave a nod and signaled to start. They both gritted their teeth and summoned their power.

"Haaaaaaaaa!" both screamed as they took it to level one.

The bars on the indicator jumped a bit at the increase but it still remained in the red. Both

Noticed this and decided to skip the warm up. Vegeta jumped into his Super Saiyan three form first and expanded his aura. The bar spiked significantly and turned orange. Goku decided it was his turn and burst into his Super Saiyan three form as well. The bar was now fluctuating between orange and yellow as it moved up and down. Both were stunned that it didn't shoot to green at the power of two Super Saiyan three's.

'_Why isn't it working_?' thought Vegeta, '_This should be more than enough power. We should at least be moving_.'

The computer's voice chimed in and updated them. "_**We are being pulled into the anomaly's core. It seems the anomaly's hold on the ship has been feeding off of the engine's power exertion. Please terminate power feed to--**_."

The computer's voice scrambled and faded out as the ship rocked violently.

Goku and Vegeta dropped back into their normal forms and dashed back to the command center to get a view of what was happening. As they made their way towards the command center a massive purple glow engulfed the ship and blue electricity pulsed around the interior of the ships hull. When the two made it to the view-screen all they saw was a swirling purple and blue vortex. They knew it was going to be a rough ride that might tear apart the hull so they quickly put on their space suits.

"This is it Kakarot! Brace yourself!"

Outside the ship, protective sheets of metal started to fly off of the hull like potato peels. Then there was a white flash and both the wormhole and the ship were gone.

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To be continued…for shizzle.

**( Just in case some of you out there are confused, this is supposed to take place after GT. However, this stems from a GT where Goku would have been returned to his adult body and not have gone with the dragon.)**


	2. Tournaments R Us

**Disclaimer:** See previous chapter! Geez…

**CHAPTER 2: TOURNAMENTS R US**

Goku snapped out of a daze caused by the white flash and the first thing he saw was a child's fist charging towards his face. He dodged as a reflex, jumping over the kid, landing a good ten yards behind him and dropped his jaw in surprise when he noticed his attacker had a tail. A Saiyan tail to be exact.

'_A Saiyan? But how? I thought they were all destroyed_.'

He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard hundreds of voices cheering and whistling in his direction.

"Way to go Kakarot!" one shouted, "Show that kid who's boss!"

He turned his head and took in his environment, while still maintaining his defensive pose. The circular ring he was in was surrounded by a huge crowd of rowdy Saiyan children, and bright daylight shone through the glass roof, which was many stories up. In the seats on the upper levels, thousands of men and women cheered, chanted, and urged the fighters to continue. Also, the wide open space of the arena and the towering stands were reminiscent of a baseball stadium, the massive glass roof being the distinguishing factor.

'_Hmmm… It looks like I'm in some sort of a tournament_.'

"Hey!" Goku's opponent shouted, "Pay attention and fight me!"

The kid, who looked no older than thirteen, launched himself forward and began hurling a flurry of punches and kicks that Goku dodged effortlessly.

"Hold still!" the kid yelled.

He tried several more times to hit Goku by feinting punches and sending kicks instead or vise versa, but to no avail. Now infuriated at Goku for moving so quickly, he screamed at the top of his lungs and powered up to his max.

Goku was unimpressed and phased out of sight, causing the spectators to go silent with awe. He darted around the ring using pure speed to stay invisible and hit the kid several times in passing. When he came to a halt he hovered above his bruised and battered opponent, who stood firmly in a defensive position.

The kid, being unable to sense ki, was unaware of Goku who floated directly above him. The audience yelled for him to look up, but when he finally did it was too late, and his face became introduced to Goku's foot. The kid was sent flying out of the ring by a powerful kick and smashed into a wall at the foot of the stands.

"RING OUT!" a voice yelled through extremely powerful speakers.

The cheering and whistling resumed after a short period of shocked silence, while the announcer walked up into the ring to congratulate Goku.

"You did pretty well, for a low-level child"

"Child, what are you talking about?" Goku asked, clearly confused.

"You're joking, right kid? Take a look in a mirror."

Goku left the ring and was guided to a locker room by a small group of Saiyan kids. As he followed, a girl from the group turned to him and patted him on the back.

"Nice fight Kakarot," she said sincerely, "That guy was two years older than you and you still kicked his ass. You must be training hard."

"Uh, yeah, you could say that." '_What did she mean by that? Wait, my voice sounded weird. And why is everyone so tall...? Oh no, please don't let this be what I think it is_.'

Goku's face showed worry as they came to the end of the hall where the entrance into the locker room was. He knew there would be a mirror in there and he'd see himself.

They all entered the locker room and most of them went to towel off sweat and rest on benches, while Goku walked down the aisles of lockers in the dank, filthy smelling room in search of a mirror. When he spotted one, he mentally prepared himself for the worst before stepping in front of it.

'_Oh, it happened again_.'

He was clad in a black jumpsuit with Saiyan armor and looked to be about eleven years old. The armor had a large black/silver striped pad on the right shoulder, a short strap of the same colors on the left shoulder, and a torso piece with a white chest and silver/black striped area over the stomach and back. On his forearms and shins he wore silver colored weighted elastic bands and black Saiyan boots on his feet.

'_Okay, so I'm a kid. But I still don't know where I am or why I'm here. And how can so many Saiyans still be alive_?'

Goku walked back to where the other kids were, sat down on the bench, and pondered these questions.

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Vegeta jumped up in confusion and patted his body down to make sure no limbs were missing.

'_The last thing I remember is the flash of light_,' Vegeta thought. '_And there was someone else with me_…'

"Kakarot!" Vegeta blurted out as he remembered. 'What the hell? Why does my voice sound like that?'

"What is the matter son? Sit down and enjoy the tournament."

'_What the_...?' Vegeta thought as he turned to see his father sitting next to him on his throne. '_Impossible_…'

"Son, what's the point of attending this tournament if you will not pay attention to the fighters. You need to learn their weaknesses so you can exploit them in the final round. I will not have my son, Prince of All Saiyans, lose to a subordinate."

Vegeta just nodded dumbly and sat back down. A million questions and possible solutions ran through his mind. He took in everything around him and began to theorize.

'_Okay, there is only one place I could be. Vegeta-sei. But why, how? Frieza blew it up! And I'm in my teenage body! This doesn't make sense_.'

Vegeta started to get a headache from all the thinking and decided to give his brain a rest. He leaned over and rested his elbows over the edge of their balcony. He looked down into the ring to the current match and was surprised to see Goku being declared the winner. He too was a child.

Vegeta looked at Goku's opponent who was embedded in a wall and smirked, '_Poor, unlucky bastard. He never knew what hit him_.'

He watched as Goku left the ring and decided he'd talk to him later. He had no doubt that he'd fight him in the final round. After all, every warrior on the planet combined couldn't compete with his and Goku's strength.

'_Yes_,' Vegeta thought, '_Fun first, then business_…'

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Goku sat on the bench, bored out of his mind. He couldn't fathom why he was where he was so he decided to just go along with it. He waited silently leaning his back against the wall behind the bench, while the other kids whispered about him. They whispered mostly about how surprisingly strong he was and how cute, as the girls pointed out.

A small smile crept onto his face and he felt surprisingly at ease. He never realized before how much he liked the idea of being a part of his race. What he didn't like though, was the hurtful things that they were forced to do to other planets by Frieza.

'_Frieza_!' he thought all of a sudden. '_He was supposed to have murdered all of the Saiyans. Yet all of the people I sense on this planet have Saiyan energy signatures. Could it really be that this planet is the Saiyan home-world? I don't understand, I never grew up on this planet. I was sent to Earth when I was less than a year old_.'

Just as Goku started to piece together his thoughts a large hand rested itself on one of his shoulders, interrupting his train of thought. Goku opened his eyes from his deep contemplation and looked up at the owner of the hand.

"Y-you… look like m-me…" Goku stammered to the man in front of him.

"I should hope so. We are family you know."

Goku stood up on the bench with his serious face on and looked his older clone in the eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I'm your father" he said with a look on his face that said 'duh'.

"What's your name?"

"It's Bardock. Are you sure you didn't hit your head during that last match because you're acting pretty strange."

Goku stood there in silence for a moment, absorbing what he had just heard. He had never met his father or even heard any stories about him from Vegeta. All Vegeta had said was that his father was somewhat of a scientist, always inventing new techniques to be used in battle. He hadn't even known him his name, and now he was standing in front of him.

"Hey," Bardock waved his hand in front of Goku's face. "Snap out of it Kakarot. Don't just stand there, tell me about your match. Those were some pretty slick moves you pulled out there. You'd give me a run for my money if we fought."

"Uh… umm, oh right! Well I guess I just remembered what I learned and the rest was instinct."

"Did you use the new technique I taught you?" Bardock asked eagerly.

"Uh… could you refresh my memory?"

"You know…" Bardock whispered, "The one about sensing your opponent's ki without using a scouter. You keep dodging and let them wear themselves out. When they are sufficiently fatigued you strike."

Goku was surprised that at what his father told him. He realized just then that his father must be smart for him to have discovered how to sense ki on his own, without the aid of an experienced teacher.

"Actually, that's exactly what I did."

"I knew it! I'm proud of you son. No one ever expected you to be very strong, but I knew the truth. You are destined for greatness."

Goku almost came to tears at what his father said. He suddenly felt a surge of pride run through him about being Saiyan. Although he had never admitted it to anyone, he had always wished he could see his father and show him what he had made of himself. Now he had the chance to do what he had only dreamt of.

"Father?"

"Yes son?"

"I've waited to hear that from you all of my life."

"Son, I've always been proud of you. You just being alive is enough for me to be proud of you. You'll grow up and carry on my blood line when you have children of your own. I'll never die as long as my descendants live and thrive."

Goku could feel his pride strengthen and his respect for his father grow immensely. What his father had just said was the way that he felt for Gohan, Goten, and even Pan. His spirit would live on through them long after he was gone and that made him feel good.

"Come on Kakarot, your next match starts in a few minutes."

Goku and his father left the locker room and walked down the corridor towards the tournament area.

"I'll leave you alone for now son. I'll find you at the end of the tournament."

Bardock went down another corridor, presumably to find a seat on one of the upper levels.

Goku continued down the first corridor and out into the battle arena. When he got there the crowd of kids and teens parted for him and the announcer waved him up onto the ring.

"The final fight of the semi-finals will commence at once. Kakarot, son of Bardock, will face off against Tatalia, daughter of Korros." The announcer paused for a breath and then continued his introductions. "The winner of this match will move on along with the winner of the previous match to the final round where they will have the privilege of competing against the offspring of elites. Children, take your positions. FIGHT!"

The girl Tatalia, who looked to be about the same age as Goku, had black hair with brown highlights that was tied back in a high spiky ponytail with a few loose spikes hanging down framing her face. She had dark onyx colored eyes and fair skin that provided a nice contrast. Her features were nothing short of beautiful.

Her armor was the same as Goku's but her body suit was a blood red color and the weighted bands she wore around her forearms and shins were black.

Goku didn't have enough time to admire her form for very long because she was already closing the distance between them. His hesitation would cost him dearly. While he was staring at her he had failed to put a decent defense and was now on the receiving end of several powerful blows to the head, gut, and groin.

'_Yikes_' he thought, suddenly glad that he was wearing Saiyan armor. '_What just happened_?'

He pulled himself off of the ground and met the gaze of the laughing girl with his famous Son grin.

'_Wow, I never imagined how pretty Saiyan women could be_.'

"Hey Tatalia," Goku called out, "I've never met a Saiyan girl before but I have to say you sure are the prettiest."

She stood there stunned and her face became hot with all the blushing she was doing. It quickly turned to anger and embarrassment as the other kids teased her.

"Hey Tatalia," a kid in the audience yelled, "Are you gonna go kiss your new boyfriend because you sure don't look like you want to hit him."

"Shut up!" she yelled, immediately earning silence from the audience. She then turned to Goku and launched herself at him while screaming, "You're gonna pay for that kid!"

'_Oh shit. That wasn't exactly the response I was counting on_' thought Goku.

"Arghh… You're dead!"

Goku regained his composure and brought his right arm up just in time to block Tatalia's left fist. Tatalia anticipated this, however, and swung her left knee into Goku's side. Goku caught her leg and started to spin around at an incredible speed. When he was satisfied that she was disoriented enough he released his grip on her leg and she flew out of the ring.

'_Yep, it's over_,' Goku thought.

"I'm not done yet!" Tatalia screamed as she flared her white aura. Her sudden burst of energy stopped her from hitting the wall and she charged back into the ring with her aura blazing. She landed a few feet away from Goku.

"Wow," she said, "I didn't think I'd face any real competition until the final round. Guess I'll get to test out some of my special moves."

"I'm glad I can be of some use to you," Goku said, chucking slightly.

"Don't mock me!" she yelled as she commenced attacking him with lightning quick punches and kicks that were too fast for the untrained eye. Her limbs moved so fast that she appeared to have multiple arms and legs. Her fists glowed hot with ki and singed off a few strands of Goku's hair as her hits gradually became more accurate.

"I'm not…" Goku continued while dodging her attacks, "…mocking you. I just…" She threw an energy blast that singed his behind. "OUCH! See a lot … of potential in you!"

She paused and Goku phased out of sight. He moved so fast that she could only see glimpses of his after image. He circled her at near light speed and soon she became surrounded in a black whirlwind. It took all her strength to stay on the ground. Unfortunately it wasn't enough and she was picked up by Goku's tornado. She struggled to no avail and was rocketed upward from the force of the wind where she slammed into the roof effectively shattered it and raining shards of glass down onto the ring. She fell in slow motion along with the glass shards. Goku had already stopped his display and promptly jumped up to catch Tatalia. When he caught her he descended slowly and set her on her feet so he could look her in the eyes.

"You have a lot of potential, you just need to work on your technique. I'd really like to train with you if you'll let me," Goku said.

Tatalia just blushed and stared at the floor, thinking.

"Well, you are pretty strong. And I could use a good sparring partner." '_And he is very cute_.' "Okay Kakarot, I accept your offer."

"Alright!" Goku exclaimed, "I've got a whole mess of things to teach you. It'll be great!"

And with that they stepped out of the ring after Goku was declared the winner. Tatalia clung to Goku's arm for some reason he didn't understand and they went to wait in the locker room.

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Vegeta watched Goku and Tatalia leave the ring and chuckled at them from his balcony.

'_You have no idea what you just did, do you, Kakarot. I guess I'll be talking to you earlier than I thought_.'

"Excuse me father," Vegeta said standing up, "I have a matter that needs tending to. I'll be back in time for my match."

His father grunted in acknowledgment and Vegeta exited the balcony through the white curtains behind them.

Vegeta walked leisurely down the hall which was decorated with red drapery at every archway. The red carpet had gold lace imprints on it and the ceiling was intricately painted with battle scenes that stretched far in both direction of the hall. The hall was very wide and gold light fixtures were the only things that separated the paintings of past leaders on both sides of the walls.

After a while of walking he passed a glass case which held many tournament trophies and he didn't care to stop. He knew they all belonged to his family.

When he finally reached the end of the hall he stepped onto the lift and pressed down.

The bottom level was the very opposite of the one he had just come from. The floors and the walls were both concrete and the ceiling was low. Some water leaked from exposed piping and left a few puddles here and there. Glowing strips on the ceiling about ten feet apart were the only sources of light and the smell was unpleasant.

He continued down the twisting corridor on his way to the competitors' lockers.

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Goku once again sat on the bench in the dank locker room, this time with Tatalia at his side.

He was nervous and was curious as to why she was leaning on him, but he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable so he decided not mention anything about that. Instead he decided that it would be a good idea to get to know his new student.

"So…" Goku said trying to strike up a conversation, "tell me about yourself."

"Who, me?" Tatalia asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, there's not much to tell. I'm twelve years old and was born into low-level status, my father being a third class warrior and all."

"Oh come on, there's got to be more to you than that."

"Like what?"

"What are your favorite foods? What is your favorite color? What do you do with your free time? These are things you can tell me."

"Okay, first one is anything sweet. Second one is silver. And when I have time off of school I train."

"See, wasn't that easy?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You know, you're not like the other boys, you're actually nice."

"Is something wrong with that?"

"No, it's just rare that's all. I must be lucky," she said, smiling and wrapping her arms around Goku in a hug.

'_Now I'm really confused_,'he thought. '_What's she doing_?'

Just then, the door to the locker room opened up and Goku turned to see who was coming in.

A young man of about fifteen who looked a lot like Vegeta walked in. He wore a royal blue jumpsuit with armor that had gold tinted shoulder-pads and a gold tinted stomach plate. His blood red cape hung to the floor and was fastened around his neck with a silver chain. And finally, he wore white gauntlets and matching boots.

Everyone except Goku immediately took a knee and bowed to their Prince. Vegeta just continued toward Goku.

"As you were" Vegeta said for all who were bowed.

When he reached Goku he looked down on him and smirked.

"Who's taller now Kakarot?"

"Vegeta? Hey what's up man, I almost didn't recognize you. How's it going?" Goku asked casually.

Vegeta grabbed him, pulled him out of Tatalia's arms, and dragged him into a corner away from everyone else.

"Listen Kakarot," he whispered, "In this place I'm a prince and if you don't treat me as such you'll look suspicious. Do you understand?"

Goku just nodded.

"Now onto the real reason I'm here," he continued to whisper. "I'm going to do you a favor and tell you what you did so you're not totally clueless."

"What did I do Vegeta?" Goku asked confusedly.

"That little training offer you made to that girl over there was more than you think. When you beat her in a test of strength and invited her to train with you, you were basically proposing a marriage. And seeing as she accepted that means you two are now bonded."

"WHAT?" Goku yelled loudly.

"Keep it down Kakarot."

"I didn't propose to her," he said, whispering again. "That can't be all it takes."

"Saiyan ways are very different from those of humans. When a Saiyan male wishes to take a mate he must first defeat her and any nearby competition in battle. Then he takes responsibility for her, and if she does not oppose then the bond is formed. Normally, just beating her in match wouldn't have led to bonding but consider what you did at the end of your match with her. You complemented her and showed affection by catching her before she fell, thus giving her the impression that you were interested in her. Then you ask to take her under your wing and become her personal trainer. Do you see the similarities?"

"Yeah, I guess, but I can't marry her, what about Chi-Chi? I have to break it off, now!"

"Hold it Kakarot; I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Why not?"

"Proposing a marriage and withdrawing after your mate has already accepted is considered an insult to her entire clan. If you do so, her family has the right, under Saiyan law, to execute you in any way they see fit."

"So how do I get out of this?"

"You don't. Marriages are only broken if the female releases you or one of you dies."

"Y-you mean I'm stuck with her?" Goku said with a dry throat.

Vegeta nodded and half grinned at Goku's predicament.

"Me and my big mouth. Hey Vegeta, the next time I'm about to do something stupid, please just knock me out okay."

"With pleasure."

"So what should I do about her," Goku said motioning toward Tatalia.

"Make the most of it. There's no telling how long it'll take before an opportunity to get home arises. I'm enjoying myself."

"Of course you would, you're a prince, and you've got the life."

"Whatever, Kakarot. Oh and try to keep it under Super Saiyan for now, we don't want people to start asking questions."

Having nothing more to say, Vegeta turned to leave.

"Hey Vegeta," Goku called to him, "You know I don't need that to beat all of these people."

"Indeed you don't," Vegeta said, looking over his shoulder. "But you might when you fight me in the final round."

Goku grinned and saluted as Vegeta left.

Once Vegeta was gone, Tatalia walked over to Goku with a mixed look of confusion and disbelief on her face.

"What was that all about?" she asked. "I didn't know you knew the Prince personally. He doesn't usually associate with us low-levels."

"Uh… well…" Goku scratched the back of his head nervously. "It's kind of a long story, can I tell you later?"

"Yeah, okay."

Goku breathed a sigh of relief but was cut short when Tatalia started snuggling against him.

'_Damn, I almost forgot. We're married now_.'

Goku's stress immediately returned full force and he sunk to the floor with his back against the wall.

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Time flew by and Goku breezed through the finals like nothing. He impressed a lot of people and angered some others, namely the parents of the children he clobbered. Tatalia, on the other hand, just stared at him love-stricken while drooling.

'_Wow_!' she thought. '_I can't believe how strong my husband is. I must be the luckiest girl in the universe_.'

When it was all over, Goku and Vegeta were called into the ring to start their match against each other.

Goku was already there and Vegeta just jumped down from his balcony and landed opposite him.

"Okay!" the announcer yelled though the mic. "Here it is folks, the match we've all been waiting for. Never before have we seen a low-level demonstrate this kind of strength and cunning. Remember, even though he may not have a chance at winning this match he and his family will still be rewarded with an upgrade to elite status. Let the championship match BEGIN!"

Vegeta smirked and disappeared, followed immediately by Goku.

The announcer looked dumbfounded and stood in the ring frozen with shock. He and the audience looked up in the air, their eyes darting around rapidly to try and glimpse the two fighters.

Vegeta and Goku phased in and out of sight, only visible for mere fractions of a second as they exchanged earth-shattering blows. Loud thunder and crackling noises filled the arena as they fought.

All of a sudden Vegeta reappeared right in front of the announcer and kicked him out of the ring.

"You're in the way," he simply stated before disappearing again.

Vegeta flew head on towards Goku, his right arm pulled back preparing to punch. At the last second when he was about to strike he vanished.

Goku floated there with his eyes closed trying to detect Vegeta's movements.

Vegeta appeared behind him and slammed his intertwined fists down onto Goku's head sending him plummeting into the ring floor.

Goku crashed into the floor creating an impact crater that decimated half of the ring.

Vegeta hovered above the giant mess awaiting Goku's exit. After a few seconds the ground started to rumble and chunks of debris began to float a few feet above the ring. Then a Kamehameha wave shot out of the rubble surrounded in a golden aura and struck Vegeta dead on.

He caught it and struggled to hold it back, flaring his white aura. It still wasn't enough and he continued to be pushed back by the blast.

With a scream and a heave he began to push the blast away and alter its path. His aura fluctuated and became golden while his hair remained unchanged. He pushed the Kamehameha up and it shot through the hole in the roof and into the sky.

Vegeta remained floating there breathing hard with his golden-white aura, on the verge of Super Saiyan.

Goku shot out of the hole in the ground and hovered opposite Vegeta in a similar state. His hair stood on end, still black, and he had a golden-white aura surrounding him. He too was on the verge of transformation, a ninety percent Super so to speak.

"So Vegeta," Goku said half-smiling, "I thought we were going to keep it down to everyone else's level."

"I didn't say those exact words Kakarot. And need I remind you that you were the first to up the ante."

"Okay, okay. What do you say we fight like this then?"

"Fine by me, but don't cry when you lose."

So Vegeta and Goku commenced fighting on the verge just below SS1.

They battled back and forth for hours, neither giving into fatigue. Unfortunately Goku's stomach got the better of him and he collapsed on the ring floor due to extreme hunger.

"Don't tell me that last hit actually fazed you," Vegeta said, touching down on the ring floor with a light 'tp'.

"Actually, I'm just really, really hungry GROWL hhhrrrr…" Goku clutched his stomach as it continued to rumble. "Ohhhhh, it hurts… make it stop. I need food quick," he said rolling over.

"Damn you Kakarot! Why are you always getting hungry at the wrong times?"

"I forfeit!" Goku yelled as he rolled around on the floor.

"You heard it people!" said the announcer, conscious once again. "After three hours of grueling battle Prince Vegeta's endurance has proven to be too much for young Kakarot. It is my honor to present this trophy to our exceptionally talented Prince!"

The announcer handed Vegeta the polished golden ape statue, and bowed his head in respect.

"Long live the royal family!"

"Feh, whatever, just get him some food," Vegeta said, indicating Goku who was being tended to by Tatalia.

"Yes sir!" the announcer said while waving over some people to take care of Goku.


	3. Super Fly

**DISCLAIMER:** DBZ, not mine.

**CHAPTER 3: SUPER FLY**

Goku woke up on a cot in what appeared to be a cafeteria. It was crowded with a bunch of hungry Saiyans waiting in line for their food.

The walls were a dull gray color, the ceiling was low, and there were twenty rows of tables each having roughly fifty tables in them. Randomly spaced columns supported the roof and black tile covered the floor.

Laughing and belching from eating Saiyans filled the air and it was so loud that Goku could barely hear himself think.

Needless to say, the Saiyans ate just like he did; without any manners whatsoever.

Goku sat up on his cot and visually scanned the area, looking for one of the few people he actually knew. He eventually caught sight of his father and Tatalia waiting in line with trays to get their food.

He was still very hungry and he wanted to get in the food line with them but they were across the cafeteria, separated from him by the crowd of Saiyans eating at the tables. So he gathered up his remaining strength and brought his right index and middle fingers to his forehead. Then he closed his eyes and instant transmissioned himself over to where they were standing.

"Whoa!" Bardock yelled as Goku appeared in a flash of static. "When did you wake up Kakarot? And what was that you did just now?"

"Uh… heh-heh, long story," Goku said rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "I'll tell you after we eat. Do you mind if I cut in front of you?"

"Go ahead son. It's the least I can do for you getting us upgraded to elites."

"Yeah," Tatalia said, "That was so cool. You were almost on par with the Prince."

"Hey Kakarot," Bardock said, "You should have told me you were planning on taking a mate so I would've had time to expand our living space."

"What can I say," Goku said, laughing nervously, "I just saw her and I had to have her." '_If only they knew I had no idea what I was doing_…'

"Yeah, well don't go reproducing just yet Kakarot, you haven't reached you're prime. Don't want you having any weak offspring."

"Are you crazy? I'm not gonna reproduce, I'm too old- I mean too young!" Goku exclaimed, waving his hands in front of his chest. '_This is insanity! I'm too old and too young at the same time! Please god, let me get home soon_.'

"Just keep an eye on this girl and make sure she doesn't try anything. Saiyan females mature much quicker than males after all."

'_Just when I think it can't get any worse_…' Goku thought.

"Don't worry Bardock," Tatalia said, already latched onto Goku's arm, "I'll be a good wife to your son."

'_Why me, what did I ever do to deserve this? I just wanted a new pupil not a spouse_.'

They waited in line for another fifteen minutes until they got their food and then they found seats. All three of them stuffed their faces, Goku more so than the others due to his loss of energy, and then they left the tournament stadium to go home.

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Goku was somewhat nervous about going 'home' because he had no idea of what to expect. All he knew of Saiyan lifestyles was the constant fighting and pursuit of strength. He couldn't picture them doing anything else so he never imagined what a Saiyan home would be like.

The planet was at least nice looking. The sky was not polluted with smog like Earths' was and it had a faint orange twinge to it due to the sunset. There were also lots of Mountains and canyons. And the trees in the forests were a mixture of gold, purple, and red.

When they arrived at Bardock's home it was already night time and as a result the purple trees around his house were giving off an ambient glow. It was positively the most beautiful landscape that Goku had ever seen. He was surprised at how isolated from civilization Bardock's house was. It was surrounded by miles of glowing forest and a waterfall fell from a nearby cliff. Goku had expected Saiyan residences to be crammed together for some reason.

The house itself was simple enough. It was one huge concrete and glass dome.

Goku guessed it was about three-thousand square feet if you counted the first and second stories together. '_What was he talking about when he said he needed more space for Tatalia? This looks like plenty of space to me_.'

One thing in particular that Goku noticed about the house was that it had no front door. He wondered how they were going to get inside.

"Okay we're here," said Bardock flying down to the roof with Goku and Tatalia right behind him.

"How do we get in?" Goku asked.

"You must've taken a few too many hits to the skull son," Bardock said, stepping on a glowing white panel.

A glass section of the roof slid open after Bardock stepped onto the panel and he jumped down.

"Oh" Goku said, following his father and wife in.

As soon as they got in, Goku's questions about the living space issues were answered.

The house was littered with computer equipment and stacks of binders that were presumably Bardock's research notes. It didn't stop there however, dirty clothes were scattered across the floor and what little furniture he had.

Bardock led the two kids downstairs and into the kitchen which was the most organized room, compared to the rest of the house, if not slightly cluttered. It probably had to be kept clean because it was used a lot, and the way Saiyans ate clean dishes were always needed. It also had a nice sliding glass door.

"Have a seat, son, I want you to tell me why you've been acting so strangely today. When you fought Vegeta I sensed an energy I've never felt before and it was coming from the both of you. I didn't say anything earlier because I thought that you might come out with it on your own but I'm not going to wait anymore."

Goku could tell that Bardock was serious and knew he wouldn't take no for an answer.

Tatalia looked back and forth between Goku and Bardock, not having the slightest clue what was going on.

"Okay," Goku said in a serious tone. "You both had better sit down for what you're about to hear."

Both Bardock and Tatalia pulled up chairs to the Kitchen table and sat down awaiting Goku's explanation.

Goku proceeded to tell them a vague and summarized version of his life, all the while not divulging too much information. He told them about Frieza blowing up the planet after he was sent to Earth and how Frieza held Vegeta hostage and forced him to serve under him. He left out the part about fighting Frieza because he didn't want to have to explain his reasons for sparing his life. Instead he simply told them that Frieza was defeated by a Super Saiyan.

He left out all details about the Dragonballs and his life on Earth. Then he skipped all of the Earth battles and just said that he had faced many enemies in his lifetime that were stronger than Frieza. And, finally, he told them about the accident in space that brought him and Vegeta there.

When he was done they stared at him in disbelief, having a hard time accepting what he had just told them.

'_I can sense no deception in his voice, but he's got be insane. That's just too absurd to be true. But then…why would he go to all the trouble to make up such a story_?' "You mean another Super Saiyan was finally born after a Millennia of absence?" Bardock asked skeptically.

"Yeah, but not before Frieza blew up Vegeta-sei" Goku added.

"He destroyed all of us?" Tatalia asked.

"Well, he blew up the planet, yes. But a few who were off-world at the time survived. I was one of them."

"Well, the part about Frieza wanting to kill all Saiyans is believable," Bardock said. "He didn't blow us up though. Man, if getting destroyed by a Super Saiyan isn't irony enough then I don't know what is."

"Wait a second!" Tatalia said. "Where's you're proof? I don't want to be married to some loser who lives in a fantasy world."

Goku had made sure to not say anything about his family in his story so as not to upset Tatalia.

"Well…" Goku said, "The only proof I have is my strength I guess. What do you say I give you a demonstration of the Super Saiyan transformation?"

"Y-you're a S-super Saiyan?" Tatalia stuttered out.

"Yep" Goku said.

'_Impossible_…' "That energy I sensed at the tournament…" Bardock began, "Was that Super Saiyan?"

"Actually, not quite, that was right before Super Saiyan."

"Are you kidding me? That wasn't even Super Saiyan? Man, if you were that strong normal, than how strong are you as a Super Saiyan?"

"I'll show you."

Goku got up and told them to hold onto his shoulders, then he instant transmissioned them all outside onto the cliff with the waterfall.

"Whoa!" Bardock yelled, "It's that thing again!"

"It's called instant transmission. It allows me to transport anywhere within my ki sensing range instantaneously. You have to find and lock onto familiar ki to travel long distances though."

"Awesome!" Tatalia exclaimed. "Can anyone learn it?"

"Well, you have to have finely tuned ki senses for it to work."

"Oh…" she said disappointedly.

"Hey, don't worry about it. If you train with me, you'll become more than capable of learning it."

"That's proof enough that you were telling the truth, Kakarot. Now show me a Super Saiyan. I've been trying to unlock the secret of it for years and have yet to succeed."

"Alright, I'll do it slow so you can see how it's done."

Goku took to the air and moved a safe distance away from Bardock and Tatalia.

"Okay guys! Here goes nothing! HHHAAAAAAAAAA!

He screamed and ignited his white aura. The wind picked up and grew steadily fiercer. Goku tightened his fists as his muscles bulged slightly.

Bardock could sense Goku's ki growing immensely and although Tatalia could not, she knew that it was far more powerful than anything she had ever encountered before.

His hair started to defy gravity and spike upwards. He gritted his teeth and hunched over as he felt the rush of Super Saiyan energy approach. His eyes flashed teal first then his aura flashed golden. Finally, the dam of energy burst and his hair became blonde.

Goku descended to the ground and walked over to the two awe-struck Saiyans.

Bardock and Tatalia both marveled at Goku's Super Saiyan form.

Tatalia grabbed one of Goku's biceps and felt it twitch from the energy pulsing through it, while Bardock ran his hands over Goku's blonde hair.

"Incredible…" was all that Bardock could get out of his mouth.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Dumbass," Vegeta said after sensing Goku's transformation. '_He's probably showing off to his new mate_.'

Vegeta sat back on his throne in the palace hall reviewing data on significant occurrences within the past decade. He had stacks of electronic data pads to go over and it was trying his patience.

After six hours of reviewing he wasn't even a third of the way through. Nothing so far had mentioned anything about Frieza trying to destroy the planet. He started to wonder if Frieza even existed in this timeline. He laughed at the thought but shook it off as he realized that Frieza had to exist here because he was the one that forced the Saiyans to do his bidding in the planetary trade industry. And there were plenty of data pads that had mentioned visits to worlds which had previously been marked for population purging.

From what Vegeta could tell, all of the planets that had been selected for purging were on a 'cancelled' list. And all of the off-world missions were to diplomatic summits on the planets of the 'cancelled' list.

Vegeta gathered that his father must've been preparing for something big; otherwise he wouldn't have forged so many alliances. Especially with worlds that had been intended as targets.

'_He must be preparing to fight Frieza_,' Vegeta thought. '_It's nice to know that we're not under the thumb of that disgusting salamander anymore_. _Father's going to need more than a huge alliance if he expects to challenge the Kold Empire, though. It'd take an army of Super Saiyans to overpower an entire race of stupid lizards_. _Kakarot and I could easily subdue any of Frieza's planets, but we can't be everywhere at once. And how come Frieza didn't just destroy Vegeta-sei as soon as we became a threat? That's what he did last time_…'

Vegeta yawned and decided to sleep on it for now and question his father if the data didn't turn up what he was looking for. But that was a last resort.

He got up and made his way to the East wing of the palace where his bedroom was. Along the way he saw female guards bowing there heads to him and checking him out. He chuckled in his head. He missed the good old days of being a Prince with people to serve under him.

He didn't want to see his people destroyed again so he made up his mind that he would do what he could to ensure their survival. The Saiyans in his timeline may have been wiped out, but here in this time they could thrive.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at Bardock's house all three Saiyans sat at the kitchen table in discussion.

"Hey dad," Goku said, "You never told me why this planet isn't space dust right now. Did Frieza ever come to blow it up? And if he did, why are we still here?"

"It's difficult to explain son. You see, on the last planet that my crew and I ravaged, I came into contact with one of the native species before it died and it did something to me that made me have visions."

"What kind of visions?" both Goku and Tatalia asked in unison.

"I'm getting to that, let me finish. So where was I…? Oh yeah! So, after I got up from the vision I had, I replayed it over and over in my head. It didn't make sense; it wasn't a memory of mine. Nothing like it had ever happened…it was then that I realized that it had to be the future."

"The future?" Tatalia asked.

"Yes, the future."

"What did you see?" Goku asked.

"I saw, in my vision, the destruction of our planet by the hand of Frieza and I rushed back to warn the king. Luckily, he listened to me and we devised a plan to thwart Frieza's attempt. Me and some royal scientists came up with a way to fool Frieza into thinking we were already as strong as he was."

"Really? How'd you do it?" Tatalia asked.

"Well, we equipped all of our soldiers with scouters that reflected power signatures. So when Frieza scanned the army that confronted him he got his own power signal sent back at him. To him it looked like every single man had a power as strong as his and no matter how much he raised his power level they were able to match. Fortunately, he didn't call our bluff and he immediately retreated seeing as he was outnumbered by a bunch of Saiyans with his kind of strength."

"Ingenious!"

"Yes, I know, but it was only a temporary fix. Since Frieza got the impression that we had warriors as strong as him, he retreated to his home world and we haven't heard anything from him for years. He has no doubt been training to become even more powerful than he already was. Seeing as we didn't have that kind of power in the first place, we decided to abandon nearly all other activities in favor of world wide training. We suspended our planetary trade dealings and allied ourselves with our former targets in hopes of amassing a force formidable enough to wage war against Frieza."

"Hmmm…" Goku thought out loud. "It would seem Frieza is much more powerful this time around. No offense, but I don't think all that is going to help you. The best chance is for you all to be Super Saiyans. Then fighting his empire would be easy."

"I see what you're saying, son!" Bardock said excitedly. "The way to beat an entire race of super beings like Frieza is to fight them with an entire army of Super Saiyans!"

"Yep," Goku said.

"But how are we gonna get the entire planet to transform? Can't you and Vegeta just take on the empire yourselves? You guys are Super Saiyans. Besides, we've been training twice as hard for over a decade straight and still have yet to produce even one Super Saiyan!" Bardock said in frustration.

"Give a man a fish and he has food for a day. Teach a man to fish and he has food for life."

"Kakarot, what the hell was that?"

"It's an old Earth saying and it is completely relevant to this situation. If Vegeta and I do the work for you, then you'll be minus only one problem, but what about the next time, and the time after that. If another serious threat comes your way you'll be too weak to defend yourselves. Vegeta and I won't be here to protect you forever; we already have a planet to look out for. We protect those who absolutely can't take care of themselves. But you are Saiyan, you have infinite potential, and if you work for your strength instead of having someone hand it to you then you can repel any force that threatens you."

"So you want us to fight our own battles without any help?" Tatalia asked.

"Of course not, everybody needs help at some point. You just need to do some of the work yourself, that's all. You can't get stronger if you don't participate in the fight."

Bardock sat in silent contemplation of Goku's words. He felt like an idiot for even considering letting someone protect him; a Saiyan warrior. There was no reason that he couldn't become as strong as his son. Everyone should be able to open up their inner strength, especially in time when it was so desperately needed. He spoke again, but without frustration, impatience, or any doubt in his voice.

"Son…"

"Yeah?"

"What does it take to become a Super Saiyan? I want to become strong enough to fight as you do, so I won't be defenseless whenever Frieza returns. I'll endure whatever type of training it takes."

"It's not all about training," said Goku seriously. "In order to break the barrier you have to have the proper motivation. Super Saiyan emerges from necessity not desire, though it sometimes varies from person to person. When I first transformed, it was to fulfill a purpose that only a Super Saiyan could. I was overcome with emotions for the ones that I cared about and I felt a powerful rage burn within me at the thought of the person who hurt them." Goku was trembling and sweating now, his hands were fists. "When I could no longer contain it, I transformed."

Goku relaxed after a few deep breaths and continued. "I…used to have to relive the pain in my mind to call out the transformation. But now transforming is as natural as breathing. The more you use it, the easier it gets."

Bardock had been listening intently and absorbing the information. He was aware of the need, but didn't yet have the emotional kick to complete the requirements.

Goku finished his speech with a sentence that struck a chord within Bardock.

"You have to learn how to harness your pain and channel it to the surface where you can use it against those who are evil."

Bardock nodded with a look of understanding on his face. He had plenty of pain bottled up inside, almost every Saiyan did.

Goku got up from his chair and stretched out a bit. Then he walked over and stood between Bardock and Tatalia.

"Dad, Tatalia."

"Yeah?" both asked.

"You have nothing to fear from Frieza. He can train a hundred times harder than any Saiyan if he wants, but he'll never reach the heights that we are capable of."

There was a moment of thoughtful silence as Tatalia and Bardock absorbed his words.

"Thanks."

"Man, I'm freakin' tired," Goku said, trying to lighten the mood. "I think I'll call it a night."

"Your room is down the hall and to the right, across from Raditz'."

"Hey where is he anyway?"

"He's at the capital hospital with his mate. His first offspring is due any day now."

"Oh." _'Let's hope he's not as bad as the first time I met him,' _Goku thought.

"Your mother is also accompanying them. She loves to be around babies."

"My mother?" Goku shouted, "I have a mother?"

"Duh!" Bardock said. "What, did you think you were cloned from me or something?"

"Well, I don't know…"

Bardock started to laugh hilariously. "You…hahahahahaha… actually thought…HAHAHAHA…that you… were cloned? Man, you crack me up!"

"HEY!" Goku shouted, "What else was I supposed to think? We look exactly alike!"

Bardock just continued laughing until he fell out of his chair and onto the floor.

"I'M GOING TO BED!" Goku yelled over the laughter.

"Goodnight Bardock!" Tatalia said, dragging Goku to his room, with a perverted smile on her face.

Bardock immediately stopped laughing and called out to Tatalia who was holding Goku.

"Hey! Remember what I said girl, no funny business with my son! Weren't you listening to his story? You have to wait until your age is appropriate for him, and he has to grow up. Don't touch him!"

Tatalia's face turned from happiness to disappointment. _'Why don't you hurry up and mature already? I want to be the first to have Super Saiyan children_,' she thought while glaring at Goku.

Goku shuddered a bit and continued on to his room, while Tatalia went to the couch.

Bardock remained at the kitchen table for a while and thought about what lay ahead for his people.

For over ten years they had trained in hopes of getting strong enough to face Frieza. All the while, the knowledge that he could return at anytime loomed over them casting a shadow over the entire planet. Now, finally, they had a real hope of succeeding in their struggle against Frieza. Bardock's son was proof that Super Saiyan was within reach of anyone who was willing to work for it.

The only thing that worried Bardock was how long it would take to start turning out a decent number of Super Saiyans across the planet. No one could be sure when Frieza would reappear to declare war against them. It could be five days or even five years. All that they could do until then is try to surpass their limits of strength and hope everything works out.

'_The day will come Frieza_,' Bardock thought. '_The day will come when you finally get to be on the receiving end of the pain_.'

With hope in his heart, Bardock shut off the lights and went to his room. He planned to get as much rest as he could because tomorrow he was gonna train like he'd never trained before.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vegeta got up early the next morning to catch up on his data reviewing.

When he got to the throne room he found that his father was already sitting there going over his data.

He stomped right over to King Vegita and slammed his foot hard on the floor to get his attention.

"What the HELL are you doing with my things father?" Vegeta said through clenched teeth.

"Your things? This is common knowledge you have piled up here. What exactly are you looking for?"

Vegeta had two choices. Attempt to tell his father the truth and hope he had answers for him about Frieza and a way for him and Goku to get home. Or withhold everything from his father and postpone a long boring explanation.

Knowing his father's level of incompetence, he decided to avoid explaining something that he wouldn't understand anyway.

Vegeta walked up the steps to his father's throne, grabbed everything out of his father's lap, and wrapped it up in his cape.

"It's none of your business! Now leave me alone!"

Vegeta flung his cape full of data pads over his shoulder and carried it like a sack of dirty laundry. Then he promptly turned and walked out of the throne room.

Once the door was shut, King Vegita stood up and motioned for one of his royal guards to come to his side.

The guard kneeled as soon as he approached the King.

"What does my lord wish of me?" the guard said, still on his knee.

"I want you and your men to keep a close eye on my son. I want to find out what he's up to. Don't let him out of your sight!"

"Yes sire," the guard said, getting up.

The guard and some of his men gathered up and immediately left the throne room in the direction of Prince Vegeta. They had equipped themselves with unique scouters designed to home-in on a selected person's ki without interference from any other power signatures. With the scouters tuned to Vegeta's frequency they'd be able to keep track of his movements.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vegeta made his way to the palace courtyard to review his data in peace and quiet. He had always found the sound of the running water in the fountains soothing.

He sat on the edge of the nearest fountain and began reviewing the data.

All of the data pads had been disorganized since he took them from his father, so he just picked up random pads and skimmed over them trying to identify dates. He was looking for the date that the Vegeta-sei in his timeline was destroyed. If he could find the same date in this one then he'd find out what stopped it from happening. He skimmed for a few minutes more and then got lucky.

"Yes! Found it!"

He pulled it closer to his face and read it slowly. His eyes widened as he read further and further into the document.

He grinned as he got to the part about Bardock making a fool of Frieza.

'_Hahahaha… It seems Frieza was finally put in his place. And by a low-level no less_.'

Vegeta continued reading until he heard movement. No one was supposed to be there except him. The palace courtyard was reserved for the royal family only.

He put down the data pad and looked around suspiciously. He could sense some people watching him. Their ki was familiar but he couldn't remember their names. Then it hit him, he was being spied upon by his father's personal guards.

'_I thought I told that blasted man to leave me alone_!'

The thought of his father distrusting him angered him greatly. Vegeta stood up, blasted the data pads to bits, and then disappeared.

The guards glanced at each other, looking confused. The tracking function of the scouter told them that Vegeta was everywhere, but they could not see him.

The leader and the two men he was with turned when they heard one of the other guards at the end of the courtyard yell. They jumped out from behind a bush and ran towards the guard that had shouted. When they found him he was under a pile of rubble next to a crumbled wall.

A couple of seconds after they found the first man downed another yelled and was silenced. They were being picked off one by one and there was nothing they could do about it.

Vegeta was enjoying his target practice but they were too easy so he quickly grew bored with them and took off in the direction of Goku, leaving a few guards still conscious.

"Sir," one of the leaders' subordinates said.

"What is it?" asked the lead guard.

"Sir, the tracker is registering again. He's flying out of the capital city, heading southeast."

"Excellent. We won't let the King down."

They moved the unconscious guards away from the rubble and then took off after Vegeta.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The clouds dispersed as Vegeta rocketed through them.

The cool touch of fresh air was even more refreshing than a swim. This was the first time in almost a year that Vegeta had been able to fly through any sky. He and Goku had never left the spaceship the whole time they were training so they had to adjust to the constant feeling of claustrophobia. If there was one thing that Vegeta really disliked, it was being boxed in. He would only put up with it if he had good reason to.

Vegeta cleared his mind of all thoughts and absorbed the warmth of the morning sun as he zipped through the sky. His peace was cut short when an alarm went off in his head. He could sense that he was being followed again, by the same guards.

'_I thought they learned their lesson_,' he thought. '_Guess I was wrong_…'

He turned onto his back while still flying forward and caught sight of three guards. With his right arm outstretched, he released three blasts and sent them on an intercept course.

The first two guards evaded and the third was knocked out of the air. The two who remained flared their auras and accelerated toward Vegeta.

'_Persistent bastards! Don't they know when to quit_?

Vegeta flared his own aura and, with a burst of speed, left them in the dust. He flew like that for about ten minutes straight before setting down in a forest a couple of miles from where he sensed Goku. He wanted to take care of the guards for good before continuing on.

A few minutes later, the two guards set down in the same forest and walked up to Vegeta who was sitting on a rock waiting for them.

"It took you guys long enough," Vegeta said, tapping his foot. "Has the royal guard training academy really lowered its standards to accept the likes of you? How pathetic. At this rate my father could have been assassinated a multitude of times. Next time I see him, I'll tell him to hire better help."

The lead guard and his underling bit back their anger, but it was still apparent to Vegeta. They addressed him with false respect.

"Sire, the King wishes that we accompany you from now on."

"Me? I'll not be babysat by a couple of halfwits who can't even take care of themselves. You two bosom buddies can go on home now."

He could sense the anger rising within them now.

"I'm afraid that's not possible sir," the lead guard said through clenched teeth. "The King's orders were very clear."

Vegeta just chuckled, "You wish to hit me don't you? I'll tell you what, stooge number one, if you can hit me even once, then I'll comply. But none of that ki blast stuff, those don't count. You actually have to touch me, are we clear?"

"Sir," the underling whispered to the lead guard, "I don't think that we should"—

"Shut up!" the leader cut him off. "This royal pain-in-the-ass needs to be taught a lesson! Let's go!"

The lead guard, dubbed 'Stooge number one' by Vegeta, launched himself at the Prince with his fists ready.

Vegeta leapt up from the rock he was on right before being struck by 'Stooge number one', whose momentum carried him straight into the rock.

"Hey stooge number two," Vegeta called from the air, "I think stooge number one needs your help!"

'Stooge number two' took to the air and furiously punched at Vegeta, hitting nothing but air.

Meanwhile 'Stooge number one' pulled his face out of the rock Vegeta had previously sat on. He looked upward and glared at Vegeta who didn't seem to be moving but was still untouchable. It was embarrassing not being able to hit a kid and he knew if he didn't succeed he'd be made fun of. He put those thoughts aside and pushed off of the ground and into the air.

Both 'Stooges' combined their efforts in the fight with the Prince and, had it been anyone else, they might have pulled off a win. This was not just anyone, though, it was Vegeta; the only man whose power was as big as his ego.

In a narrow canyon that the fight had moved to, they flew at Vegeta from both sides and performed aerial sweeping kicks intended to catch and hold him in place.

Vegeta allowed them to think their plan would work and then phased out just in time to watch them collide with each other.

Both guards got close-lined by each other's kicks and flopped to the ground like rag dolls, unconscious.

Vegeta laughed and then flew away. '_Looks like they did my work for me_.'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Vegeta got to Bardock's house he was surprised at how much land he had acquired. Then he mentally slapped himself, '_Duh, he must've been rewarded for helping thwart Frieza's plot_.' He passed the dome house and kept going towards where he felt the energy spiking.

At a clearing near a pond where the waterfall broke, he saw Goku and Bardock sparring with each other.

Goku was at SS1 and Bardock was at his max power trying to keep up. Bardock was no match for him, but he was doing better than most people on the planet could have.

Goku sensed Vegeta's approach first and stopped mid air.

Bardock kept going and took this opportunity to sucker punch Goku in the jaw and send him flying into the pond. Goku hit with a giant splash and Bardock landed on the edge of the pond with a look of triumph on his face.

Vegeta walked up clapping his hands in applaud of Bardock's feat.

"Congratulations, you've managed to take advantage of Kakarot's ineptitude, welcome to the club."

"Oh! Prince Vegeta!" Bardock said, kneeling. "It's an honor to be in your presence."

"Rise," Vegeta said, rolling his eyes.

Goku floated over to Bardock, soaking wet, and flung him into the pond.

"There! Now we're even dad!"

Goku ignited his aura to dry himself off, and then landed in front of Vegeta. He was still an SS1.

"Kakarot, do you have to stay in that form?" Vegeta asked. "Someone will pick it up on a scouter eventually and they'll come to investigate."

"Relax, Vegeta, there's nothing to worry about. They won't pick up anything from here, right dad."

"That's right," Bardock said, pulling himself out of the water. "I have an electronic dampening field surrounding the perimeter of my property. Except for in my house, nothing electronic can work out here. No radio waves can penetrate the field, which means were invisible to scanners."

"You continue to surprise me Bardock," Vegeta said.

"Thank you sir," Bardock said before shaking the water off.

"So where's your brat's wife?"

"Tatalia's at school," Bardock said. "It's a required course to learn the history of our planet's involvement with Frieza's affairs. Kakarot told me what happened in your timeline and how things went pretty badly for us there. We don't want that to happen here so we've been training to reach Super Saiyan."

"I know what you've been doing; I've seen the imperial records. It seems the planet has finally found a purpose worth shedding the old ways for. And it's because of you that we have that chance. Tell me, do you still have visions?"

Bardock's expression became a grim one. His answer came after a long period of silence. He spoke in a serious tone.

"I've tried to develop control of them over the years, but they've been fading for a while now…"

"I see…" Vegeta said.

"Hey guys, lighten up," Goku interjected, "What's the big deal anyway?"

Bardock turned to Goku, still holding the grim expression, "He wanted to know if I could see it."

"See what?"

"The outcome of the imminent war."

"Oh…" Goku nodded in understanding.

"Well," Vegeta said, changing the subject, "Since this place is shielded from scanners, I might as well get some exercise."

He immediately popped into SS1 and began doing handstand pushups while balancing on his left pinky finger.

Bardock and Goku left Vegeta alone and went to another area to continue training. They walked in silence for a while and Goku was the first to speak again.

"Dad, it's important for you to become a Super Saiyan as soon as possible. You have to be the one to introduce it into the population. Vegeta and I couldn't do so without arousing suspicion. Besides, people will be more inclined to believe that you discovered it since you are a scientist."

"I understand. I'll do my best."

"I'm going to remain in my Super Saiyan form until you can transform at will. Hopefully, the constant presence of a Super Saiyan will accelerate your progress. And when you finally reveal your 'discovery' to the public, Vegeta and I won't have to disguise our power from everybody anymore."

"You can really remain in this state for that long?" Bardock asked in disbelief. "I plan to try hard, but I think it'll be well over a year before I even graze the surface of Super Saiyan power."

"I'll be alright. I once stayed like this for almost a year straight back on Earth. It'll be a good challenge to see how much longer I can go."

"Whatever you say son, but I wouldn't push that small body of yours to hard. And what do plan to do about getting back to where you belong? You can't do anything about that if you spend all your time here training me, can you?"

"Relax dad, I'm sure Vegeta will cover that. Besides, he hasn't got the patience to be a teacher. I'll do my part for you and he'll do his part for us. Everything will fall into place, don't worry."

'_Don't worry_?' Bardock thought. '_That's easy for you to say, you're a Super Saiyan. I don't think there's anything capable of worrying a Super Saiyan. I just hope I feel the same way when I become a Super Saiyan_.'


	4. Everyday

**DISCLAIMER: **I didn't create dbz.

**CHAPTER 4: EVERYDAY**

"Alright dad!" Goku cheered enthusiastically from his seat on a rock. "Keep going, you're on the right track."

Bardock gritted his teeth and hunched further over as he pushed the limits of his power supply and showed no signs of giving up. Even though his power should have run out it kept coming. His skin began to rip and tear a little bit as it could no longer hold in his muscles. Lines of blood flowed from little cuts all over his body and the ground began to break apart around him. Then, a bright golden light exploded and engulfed Bardock for a split second before vanishing.

When Goku's sight returned he saw Bardock lying on the ground in the middle of the clearing in front of the waterfall. He was breathing heavily as his body trembled. He was not a Super Saiyan.

"Damn…" Bardock hissed through his breath, "almost…had it."

"Don't worry about it, we'll try again tomorrow okay. What do you say we eat? You sure look like you can use a good snack."

Bardock pulled himself up off the ground and began stumbling back to the house with Goku right behind him.

He played back the scene over in his head in attempt to pinpoint where it was he went wrong, but he still couldn't figure out why he was not a Super Saiyan yet.

"I just don't understand it," Bardock sighed in frustration. "Why can't I get it? It seems like we've been doing this forever and-"

"Hey!" waved Tatalia as she landed in the middle of their path to the house. "I got out of school early today."

"Oh…hey Tal," Goku said nervously. He'd been feeling uneasy around her lately since almost every time they were around each other she'd mention his obligation to start a family with her sooner or later.

"Relax Kakarot, I'm not here to bug you about that," said Tatalia sensing the tension in his voice. "I just haven't seen much of you lately and I thought we could all go somewhere tonight. You know, have a little fun for a change."

"What are you talking about? Training is fun."

"Yeah, Kakarot, I know, but not all the time. Why don't you guys give yourselves a break for once? It can't hurt, besides are you gonna stay cooped up here the entire time you're on this planet.?"

"Back me up here dad," Goku whispered out the side of his mouth.

"Sorry, you're on your own bud. See ya!" Bardock laughed as he ditched Goku and went into the house.

"Oh, yeah, thanks a lot dad! I love you too!" Goku yelled after Bardock.

"So…what do you say?" Tatalia asked hopefully.

"I- I just can't right now, I'm sorry. Were too busy, how about tomorro-"

"YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT!" Tatalia screamed as tears began to fall from her eyes. "YOU NEVER WANT TO DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN TRAIN! YOU'VE BEEN DOING THE SAME THING EVERYDAY FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS! _2 YEARS_! Don't you want to see what's out there?" Tatalia said, crying anger replaced by crying hurt. "Don't you want to know what a life here has to offer? I was only asking to have a simple night of fun. Everyday, I come home from school and you're either eating, sleeping, or training your dad. And I can understand that, but what I don't understand is why you can't set aside just a little bit of time for me."

Goku was speechless. He had no idea she felt so neglected. The outpour of emotion was almost overwhelming to him. He had nearly forgotten what it was like to be in a real marriage. But he couldn't avoid it; this had just become real and he was having to grow up all over again.

Goku thought for a second . He had a golden opportunity here. When he was with Chi-Chi he was almost always focused on something else. He was a fighter first and everything else second. This time he could make it right. He could be a fighter and a husband- a good one -not just one that is there on occasion.

"Well," Tatalia said attempting to stifle her cry, "what do you have to say for yourself?"

Goku still could not form words.

"Hmph, I guess it was too much to expect even an explanation from you. You know, my graduation from middle school is in a week, I guess my guest seats will be empty."

She turned and began to walk away but Goku stopped her.

"Wait," Goku grabbed her and held her in an embrace.

Tatalia was stunned, initially, but was soon overcome with emotion and buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed.

"I just want to be with you," came her muffled voice. "What if the world is destroyed tomorrow and I never have a chance to prove how much I love you."

"Shhh…" Goku hushed as he ran his hands through her hair. "You already have."

She lifted her head up to stare into his eyes and saw that he had tears in his as well. She embraced him tighter and slowly moved in closer. Then, they both closed their eyes as their lips touched for the first time.

After that, all they could do was stand there, stuck in the embrace, neither having the nerve to make a move. Not a word was spoken for at least twenty minutes.

Finally, Goku had guts enough to say something.

"Hey, I think I'll take you up on your offer. What do you say you show me around? I'm tired of this mushy stuff anyway," he said trying to lighten the mood.

"A night on the town?" she said, smiling. "Sounds good to me."

"Alright then, let's go!" Goku said happily. "Uh…you can let go of me now."

"Five more minutes? Pleeeease?" she begged as she snuggled up against him.

(FIVE MINUTES LATER)…

"You ready?"

"Yep."

"Okay! Let's go!" Goku said, spurred on by his curiosity.

"Wait a second, don't you want to go get Bardock to come with us so that you won't have to be alone with me for too long?"

"I don't think so, besides he probably needs his rest anyway. Is it alright if it's you and me, Tal?"

The smile on her face brightened so much, that if it were a light bulb, it would outshine the sun. This was the first time since they met that Goku wanted to spend time with just her alone.

"Of course it's alright! But…" Tatalia started.

"But what?"

"You're blond Kakarot, remember?"

"Oh, he-he, this," Goku pointed to his Super Saiyan hair. "My bad. Uh, do you have a hat or something?"

"Man, Kakarot, I don't even think there's a hat in existence that will cover that up."

"Dang it…I really don't want to go back to my normal form. If I quit now I'll have to start on a new record all over again."

"You've been like that for nearly 2 years now, I doubt anybody will break your record; ever."

"I don't know, you can never be too sure."

"Come on already, it's gonna be dark soon. The best stuff to do is at night and we don't want to miss anything."

"Okay, fine I'll do it. Here goes," Goku said calming himself in preparation to release hold of his SS1 form.

He closed his eyes and exhaled expecting to feel weaker, but nothing happened.

"Am I missing something?" Tatalia asked confusedly.

"I don't get it," Goku said, equally confused. "I should be in my original form right now but I'm still a Super Saiyan. This doesn't make sense…"

They both stood there thinking for a moment and Tatalia was the first to speak up.

"Maybe you have too much energy to return to your normal form. So much, that your body refuses to power down until you get rid of it."

"You know, that kind of makes sense. I should fire off a few Kamehameha's to expel the excess energy."

"You don't need to do that when there's a more fun way to use your energy."

"Fun way?"

"Yeah, this night is about fun right, Kakarot?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, the place I was gonna take you to is a restaurant/nightclub where you can eat, dance, and fight with no age or class restrictions. You can fight as many people as you want and you can also set a challenge and bet on it with the restaurant. If you win, they'll serve you whatever you want for free. They even allow aliens to participate."

"Really? That sounds awesome! What are we waiting for?"

"Hair."

"Oh yeah. Hmm, let's see. How about an excuse that my dad invented hair dye?"

"Hair dye already exists stupid! Do the people on Earth think they're so special that they're the only ones with the capacity to think of creating dye for hair? How lame. I was actually just about to ask you to dye it back to it's normal color."

"Well, nobody on this planet has actually seen a real Super Saiyan before so it shouldn't matter if I go out like this, right? They'll think my hair is dyed."

"Yeah, but it isn't exactly considered popular to dye your hair nowadays. Almost nobody does it. Do you want to embarrass me in public?"

"How can you be concerned over something so trivial Tal? I'm going like this."

"This is worse that letting everyone know he's a Super Saiyan," she muttered under her breath.

Tatalia lifted off the ground and began ascending above the tree line but stopped when she noticed Goku was not following her.

"What's he up to?"

"I'm going out dad!" Goku yelled with his head through an open window in the house. "Tell mom I love her when she gets home!"

"Alright!" Bardock called out. "Don't be out too late!"

"You ready Kakarot?" Tatalia yelled down to Goku.

"Yeah, but forget about flying," Goku said as he appeared beside her in a flash, " let's take the fast way."

Goku offered his left hand for Tatalia to grab onto and held his right to his forehead in the focus position for Instant Transmission.

"Which direction is it?"

She pointed to the right of Goku off into the distance.

"Okay, is that where a lot of strong fighters are hanging out?" he asked after turning to face in the proper direction.

She nodded.

"Alright, I think I've got it. Here we go."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the blink of an eye, they were no longer floating over Bardock's land. Instead, they hung in the sun setting sky above a two story restaurant that was filled to the brim with waiting customers. The building had an outdoor dance floor that connected with the one on the inside and that entire side of the building had no wall separating it from the view of the ocean.

A path that ran along the beach in front of the restaurant was lit with tropical torches and there were also some people dining on outdoor tables and chairs nearby.

Further beyond that, over the water, was a small rocky island where you could clearly witness people sparring. Some used the sky, but most chose the island as their ring.

"You weren't kidding when you told me about this place," Goku awed over the surroundings as they descended toward the buildings entrance. "This is great! I can't wait to check this all out!"

"Come on let's go inside," Tatalia said as she dragged him forward by his hand.

Loud music reminiscent of techno and trance blared and vibrated through the stone walkway as they came to a long line of people waiting to get in.

Tatalia began forcing her way through the crowd of people while still dragging Goku behind her. She pushed people out of the way and knocked them down with little regard.

"Hey! It's called a line asshole!" a random person called out.

"Fuck you!" Tatalia called back as they made it into the doors.

"Hey, Tal, was that really necessary?"

"Absolutely. He dissed me and I responded in kind. I would've looked weak if I didn't. Around here, you have to walk over people before they walk over you if you wanna get something done."

"Oh…" Goku said as he thought it over.

"Nice hair blondy! That do is so five years ago!" another random person yelled.

"Damn you, you stupid dumb-head!" Goku shouted back.

He turned to Tatalia with a cocky grin on his face and winked at her. His smile disappeared when he noticed the less than enthusiastic look on her face.

"You're gonna wanna work on your technique," she said after rolling her eyes in embarrassment.

"Cursing has never really been my forte."

They stopped at the front counter and Tatalia slammed her fist repeatedly on it until someone walked up.

"Hey are we gonna eat? 'Cause I think I know what I want already, but maybe I should check the menu just in cas-"

"Shut up, we're not eating yet," she whispered to him then turned to the lady behind the counter.

"What the hell do you want?" the lady behind the counter asked.

"Bring out the manager; now," Tatalia demanded firmly.

"Hey boss, some bitch and her boyfriend are asking for you," the lady yelled toward the back area.

"Two seconds!" an extremely deep voice called from the back.

A couple of seconds later a, really buff, super short guy with a full beard came out.

"Alright I'm here, who are you?"

"My friend here wants to make a bet. He'll challenge any and all volunteers to an all out battle!" Tatalia announced for everyone within hearing range. "If he wins we want a free all you can eat buffet!"

"You crazy? This twig? Hell no."

"Kakarot, do something," Tatalia whispered into his ear. "We've got no money so we need this to work if we want to eat here."

Goku nodded and giggled inwardly with delight at the thought of a free all-you-can-eat buffet.

While the manager and his lady co-worker were laughing at him from behind the counter, Goku charged up an index finger and hit the manager with a surprise uppercut flick. The short, bearded man was rocketed upward by the force of Goku's finger and burst through both levels of the building leaving two gaping holes.

Goku blasted off of the ground through the holes and up into the sky, flying fast to catch the guy before he went into space. He got ahead of him just in time to kick him back down toward the ocean right before they ran out of atmosphere. The kick was so fast that the manager began to feel the burn as he plummeted through the upper atmosphere.

A split second later, the fireball that was the short bearded man crashed into the water in between the island and the beach with a cloud of steam and humongous splash. So much water had been temporarily displaced that you could see the manager at the center of an impact crater on the oceans floor.

Goku flew back down in the knick of time and scooped up the unconscious manager before the water filled in and drowned him.

"So how about it? Is he in?" Tatalia asked the lady behind the counter.

"I…think he's qualified."

"Then log it in your little register lady."

"Uh-huh," the worker nodded dumbly as Goku carried the manager up through the open wall and set him on a nearby bench.

"He'll probably be back on his feet in a week," Goku said, "nothing to worry about."

All except Goku and a small number of people in the restaurant were drenched to the bone with water from the splash that he caused. This may have been fine with some understanding people, however, there was quite a number of people who were pissed off at Goku for soaking them.

"Hey, you bastard," a person from the crowd of people on the outside dance floor pointed to Goku. "Do you know how long it's gonna take me to scrub the muck off of this armor! Are you listening you son of a bitch?"

This really struck a nerve with Goku. Before, he never would have been affected by a comment like that, but since meeting his mother and personally knowing that she was not a bitch but in fact a very caring woman, his light attitude turned a little more serious.

Goku turned around and walked back outside toward the Jerk who had insulted him. The stern face he wore was chilling, as it portrayed an air of unnatural calmness.

"If I didn't know better," Goku said in a low tone, "I'd say you want to fight me. Well…do you?"

"You bet, you little prick," the man said with a sadistic grin plastered on his face. "Hey! Who here wants me to kick this little guy's ass?" he shouted for everyone to hear.

Crowds of people cheered for Mr. Jerk and began to line up behind him, presumably to get in on the beat down.

"Alright then!" the Jerk shouted, "We'll be more than enough of a challenge for you, boy!"

"If you say so," Goku said with a lighter tone and a bit of restrained laughter.

The Jerk, ringleader of the angry mob, was insulted by Goku's laughter and attempted to grab Goku by the hair and slam his head into the pavement.

Goku was much too quick for this however, and the Jerk ended up losing his footing and face planting. When he got up, Goku was already flying toward the small island visible from the beach.

"Are you running you coward?"

Immediately, people began taking off after him, including the Jerk. In total, there were about eighty to ninety angry Saiyans chasing after him with a few anonymous aliens mixed in the bunch.

Goku stopped and hovered over the small island and addressed the people already sparring before everyone else arrived.

"Hey you guys!" Goku waved down to them. "Do you want to have a match with me? You see those people on their way here, they aren't going to be enough to make it interesting. Do you think you could join them for me?"

The various men and women mumbled amongst each other for a few seconds and then vanished. They reappeared in the air on all sides of Goku and at once converged on his position each intending to place powerful hits on whatever part of his body they could touch.

Goku just floated there and intended to accept the first wave of a dozen or so attacks in order to gauge their abilities. He could already sense that this group was more skilled than most of the people that were about to arrive.

A young woman appeared behind him and caught him in a full body lock while her comrades closed in and pummeled his torso, face, and legs with supercharged punches, kicks and blasts. The chain did not stop there, though. The woman who was holding Goku powered up and then disappeared, leaving behind a transparent ghost body composed of ki in her place to continue holding him still. Then, everyone, including the first group who had just arrived, formed a sphere around him and fired off powerful beams that were absorbed by the ki spirit, causing it to glow brighter and brighter until it detonated right on Goku's back.

The incredibly strong explosion formed a shockwave which knocked out some of the weaker opponents and lowered the total number of fighters by about sixty percent.

With the weaker ones weeded out, Goku was ready to go.

After the smoke cleared, Goku could be seen performing a few stretching exercises and appeared to be unscathed by the attack.

Tatalia sat on the roof of the restaurant and cheered Goku from a distance. "Yeah! Let's go baby! Kick their asses so we can eat!"

'_Did she just call me baby_?'

Goku finished his last stretch and brought up his left hand with the palm facing in. With a simple wave of his hand he called out the fighters and they responded.

Now, an all out round of chaos ensued in the sky above the island, lit only by rapidly fading sunlight.

Goku charged into the crowd at full speed, twisting and turning his body to weave through the endless mass of people. He began to step on peoples' faces and bodies, rebounding off of them like stepping stones. All the time he was flipping and spinning while dodging streams of energy directed at him.

One beam came close to his face but he dodged it just quick enough to only receive a thin burn across his right cheek. That same blast hit someone directly behind him and created an opening that was quickly filled up with more fighters.

A few people lunged at Goku simultaneously with palm blasts ready for point blank range. Goku grabbed the first one by his wrists and swung him like a baseball bat at the other two and sent them flying down into the rocks on the island. He kept the momentum of his 'bat' going and released the guy at the exact point right before being struck by a beam and allowed him to act as a shield for the blast.

The battle went on and the numbers dwindled as Goku swatted away most of his opponents with minimal effort. He never even needed to ignite his aura as he repeatedly put down every attacker that got too close.

There was a small pause as the last three fighters still conscious caught there breath.

Goku barely looked winded at all. The only sign that he'd been in a fight was the singe on his right cheek and a bit of chipped paint on his armor.

The last three fighters were the Jerk, the lady who created the ki spirit, and the alien who threw the blast that singed Goku's face.

The Jerk's armor was completely gone and his blue jumpsuit was almost entirely shredded. His dark brown hair was matted with blood and dirt from having crashed into the island a few times. And his two front teeth were now missing.

The ki spirit woman was missing a significant chunk of her long bluish-black hair as well as her thigh high boots that once covered the dark green tights of her jumpsuit. Her left wrist was also broken and contorted into an unnatural position.

The albino-skinned alien appeared to be in slightly better condition than the other two. Little sharp and spiky horns that protruded from his skin made it more difficult to actually land a solid hit on him, therefore he was mostly targeted by ki blasts which were easier for him to dodge. His wild orange Mohawk was littered with bits of rock and dust and the baggy yellow pants he previously wore were now shorts.

Ki spirit lady was the first to work up the nerve to attack Goku again. She went for the direct approach and flew straight at him, transforming her entire body into a beam by igniting and intensifying her aura.

Goku countered with a massive Kamehameha that completely overshadowed and engulfed her.

Her attack fizzled out and she fell from the beam and crashed into the sand after traveling some distance.

In a heartbeat the Jerk was all over Goku delivering a series of blurry punches and kicks, all of which hit air.

Then the Alien joined in to help the Jerk double team Goku. His spiky knuckles forced Goku to back off to a safe distance and launch a few palm blasts as a diversion.

Goku phased out of sight and reappeared behind the Alien then released a barrage of miniature Destructo Discs that shaved down the spikes that were exposed to them. Without a defense the Alien was open to a physical attack and Goku moved in with his fists ready.

Unfortunately for Goku the Alien grew back his spiky horns just before Goku's punch hit. It was too late for Goku to stop and all he could do was alter the path of his fist slightly so that he got only a few cuts down the outside of his right arm.

"Shit!" Goku cursed as he shook the blood off of his arm.

'_Now he gets it_,' Tatalia sighed inwardly.

"Let's wrap this up!" the Jerk cried as he and the Alien charged at Goku from opposite directions.

They drew closer by the second, but Goku seemed preoccupied with something else as he held his hands up in front of his face and inspected them. There was a slight trembling when he closed his fists and he realized right away what it was.

Just as soon as he realized what was up, his power faded and his hair fell back into its normal position and color.

"Hey, I can power down now, aweso-"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Please, sir, let us return," Raditz pleaded over the communications system in his space pod. "This sector is devoid of anything useful to us. We should return to Vegeta-sei and rest before we set out on the next mission."

"Raditz, it's not like you to beg like a piss ant, what do you really want to go home for?"

"I- I promised my wife I'd be home for my son's second birthday and I still haven't gotten him a gift yet," Raditz confessed with his head hung in shame. "I'll understand if you choose to ignore my dilemma."

"No, it's not a problem. I could go for some shore leave anyway."

"Oh, thank you, Prince Vegeta. You don't know how much I appreciate this. My wife would've killed me if I missed out on his birthday."

"Quit groveling you fool, before I change my mind."

"Understood. Reversing course."

Both pods reoriented themselves with their thrusters and then zipped away at light speed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Bardock sat at the kitchen table blowing bubbles in his smoothie instead of drinking it. He was still hung up on his disappointing attempt of a Super Saiyan transformation. He knew the power was there, but he just couldn't pull it all out. His appetite disappeared and being unable to enjoy it, he pushed the smoothie away. Then he leaned back in his chair and began balancing it on its two hind legs.

"Whoa!" Bardock yelped as he started to fall backwards.

"You know," Raditz said, catching the back of Bardock's chair with his tail while still managing to stand in a badass pose, "you really should be more careful, dad."

"Oh hey, Raditz," Bardock said, twisting himself around. "When did you get back?"

"Just now, as a matter of fact. Hey, shouldn't Kakarot be here training you right now?"

"Nope, he went somewhere with Tatalia about a half hour ago," Bardock said, getting up. "Why?"

"I need a favor from him. I still haven't gotten a gift for Geno and I could use his input."

"I see…Hmm," Bardock said as he lit a cigarette. "I overheard a bit of their conversation and I think they mentioned something about a fighting buffet."

"That's it? That's all you heard? Practically every restaurant has fighting on the menu. Can't you be a little more specific?"

"Sorry, I don't know anything else," Bardock shrugged, letting the cigarette move up and down as he talked.

"Hey, since when do you smoke?"

"Since I started…" **(COUGH!COUGH!HACK)**.

'_Poser_,' Raditz rolled his eyes. '_He looks like more of a dumbass than a badass_.'

Bardock tossed the butt away after a fit of coughing. "Okay, so that wasn't for me. Why don't you just wait until they get back? We can spar to pass the time. And I could sure use a relaxing fight with a weaker opponent to relieve some stress. That smoke certainly didn't do the job."

"Oh, so you've achieved Super Saiyan then?" Raditz said with a cocky half-grin on his face. "Because… that's the only way you're stronger than me. So have you?"

"Not entirely, and what do you mean only a Super Saiyan can beat you?"

"Follow me and I'll show you," Raditz said as he jumped out of a kitchen window.

'_What's that boy up to_?' Bardock looked at his son suspiciously as he followed him outside.

Raditz floated over to the spot where Bardock had previously failed to become Super Saiyan. "Okay, check this out dad. Haaa…" Raditz started with a low growl.

The low growl grew to a near roar as his energy surged from his body and expanded outward in all directions. His muscles bulged and his skin stretched to the point of breaking, same as Bardock's did. His hair began to lift slightly as his visible power became an intense mixture of flickering white and gold light. Then, just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Raditz' energy evaporated and he plopped to the ground on his ass.

"I'm not…a Super Saiyan," Raditz panted, "But I'm the next best thing."

Bardock nearly shit his pants as he could barely absorb the shock.

"H- how?"

"Well, whenever Vegeta and I would stop on a planet to stretch our legs, he would insist on using me as a punching bag for his exercises. When he was kicking my ass, I paid close attention to his techniques and tried to copy them later on. Before I knew it, I began picking up some of his moves and I even witnessed him transform once."

"You got that far from only seeing it once?" Bardock asked in disbelief.

Raditz nodded and chuckled a bit as he staggered to his feet. "Sometimes, I don't even believe it myself," he said stretching out his sore muscles. "I don't know why this keeps happening though," Raditz referred to his skin as he scratched at a few scabs.

Seeing that triggered a chain of thoughts in Bardock's scientific part of the brain. '_Why did his skin break like that? Is that part of the process? Come to think of it, I've never seen Kakarot with that problem. That must have something to do with why we can't reach his level_.'

"So, dad. How close are you?"

Bardock was still hypothesizing. '_Maybe I didn't channel my energy properly. I did feel unusually tired after my attempt. Powering up shouldn't normally make anybody that tired. I must've concentrated too hard and tensed my muscles too much, causing more energy than necessary to flow into them. The unbalanced distribution of ki flow throughout my body must've tired me out before I could complete the transformation. That's it, it has to be_!'

"Dad!" Raditz waved his hand in front of Bardock's face. "Hey, I asked you a question!"

"Huh?"

"How close are you to Super Saiyan?"

Bardock folded his arms and tried to play it down a bit. "Humph. I'm about where you are at the moment."

"Oh yeah?" Raditz asked curiously. "Let's see it."

"If you insist." Bardock tried to sound calm and cool, but inside he was as giddy as a little school girl that he had a chance to show off in front of his son. He had just had a revelation that he believed would solve his problems with transforming and was going to test it out for the first time.

Just as he had traded places with Raditz and was about to power up, an alarm went off in his head, signaling someone's arrival.

"Someone's coming!"

"Who is it?" Raditz asked.

"Your mom, Anko, and Geno."

"Shit, I've got to get out of here or something!" Raditz panicked.

"What's the worry?"

"Anko's gonna ask me about Geno's birthday present and I can't bullshit with her. She always sees through my lies."

"Well, you'd better hurry and go then. They'll be here in less than a minute. I'll cover for you as long as I can, now go."

"You're brave dad, thanks," Raditz said, patting him on the shoulder and then blasting off. "Good luck!" he called from the air. '_You're gonna need it_.'

Bardock squinted as he saw them grow closer and closer. The long whisps of hair, covering half of his wife's face, that was not pinned up did a poor job of hiding her irritation. And the fists she had at her sides didn't help either.

(48 seconds later…)

"Ouch! No need to get rough honey," Bardock said while rubbing the throbbing bruise his wife had given his forehead. "Anko," he said, turning to the twenty year old wife of his son, "help your dear old father-in-law out. Tell her I don't know anything."

"Cut the shit, Bardock. We know Raditz was here. Now tell us…where did he go?"

Although Anko was pretty, clad in her dark green leather jumpsuit that showed off her curves, she had one hell of a bite to go with her bark. Her cute face and unassuming smile framed by shoulder length spiky tresses was a front.

'_What did I get myself into_?' Bardock thought as his wife's fist closed in on his face once again. '_Oh dear_-' (CRACK!)(BLACKNESS)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Raditz winced from a distance as he thought about what they were doing to his dad. '_Poor guy. Doesn't he know that I inherited my horrible lying skills from him. I hope he's alright_.'

He quickly forgot about his father when he sensed Goku's presence at a nearby beach. Then he changed his direction and ignited his aura to get there as fast as Saiyanly possible.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**(WHACK!)** Both fists connected powerfully. The Alien and the Jerk punched each other in the face and fully knocked out the others' teeth.

"YEEOOOOW!" Both screamed as they rubbed the sides of their faces.

"Wuh wer you puhke ah you ahhole"

(What were you punching at you asshole?) the jerk shouted toothlessly at the Alien.

"I was about to ask you the same thing! You should have hit the other guy not me you dumbass!" the Alien shouted back at the Jerk who was confused as to how he was talking.

"Wuh? How cah you hawk wihe"

(What? How can you talk right?)

The Alien opened his mouth revealing several rows of teeth.

"Yuck! Cohe ih, huwee"

(Yuck! Close it, hurry!) the Jerk yelled before vomiting.

Goku floated nearby and laughed at the two guys' antics. "You guys crack me up. But you were just a little too slow. I had fun though, thanks. Bye!" Goku waved as he began floating in Tatalia's direction.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going," the Alien shouted. "We haven't finished our fight yet!"

"Well," Goku said, turning around, "if you think you can beat me, we can continue."

The Alien floated there for a moment trying to read Goku as he hung in the air with his arms rested behind his neck. He seemed too tired to notice that Goku's hair was no longer blond.

"Well?" Goku asked.

"Humph. I concede."

Goku turned and began heading toward Tatalia again.

"But," the Alien continued, "don't count me out permanently. I'll be seeing you again."

Goku lifted his right hand from the back of his neck and waved backwards to the alien man as he continued to descend forward.

"That was awesome Kakarot!" Tatalia said as she flew up to greet Goku and hugged him. "Are you ready to eat?"

"Are you kidding? I'm starved, let's go," he said as he grabbed hold of her hand and pulled her down to the restaurant.

"I'm sorry, who the hell is this?" the lady behind the counter asked as they approached.

"He's the challenger," Tatalia said.

"The challenger…" the lady said, skimming over her list, "a Kakarot, was it?"

"That's me!"

"It says here he's blond and you look like a brunette to me. If the actual challenger doesn't claim his prize within five minutes, then the deal is void."

"What?" Tatalia asked in disbelief. "I can't believe this, I demand to speak to the manager. Where is he?"

The lady behind the counter pointed to the bench behind them. "He's right over there, but I'm afraid someone," she glared at Goku, "knocked him out. So, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

"Damn, that bitch," Tatalia cursed through her teeth. "She knew you were who you claimed to be. What a rip-off!"

"It's alright, let's just leave, Tal."

"But we were supposed to spend this time together. It was supposed to be perfect," she whined in frustration.

"Well, how about this," Goku proposed. "I'll hang out with you at your school tomorrow and I'll even go to your graduation."

"You'd torture yourself with school to be around me?" she asked excitedly.

"Sure, for a day, why not?"

"Ohhh, I love you!" she said squeezing his face into her chest.

"I…can't…breath!" Goku coughed out.

"There you are, Kakarot," Raditz said as he ran up behind them. "I need to ask a favor of you-" He cut himself off when he saw Goku's face in Tatalia's boobs. "Is this a bad time?"

"…help…air…gone…" Goku whispered inaudibly.

"I'll be waiting outside when you two are uh,…finished," Raditz said stepping back slowly and turning. "Oh, and you might consider getting a room." '_Geez, can't he keep it in his pants for two seconds_…'

Tatalia released him at the last second and allowed him to catch his breath and not pass out.

Goku leaned on the door sill of the exit for support while he continued to breath hard and wipe the sweat off of his face.

'_Oh, I must've gotten him a little too excited_,' Tatalia blushed. '_I'm naughty_.'

Once Goku caught his breath completely, he went outside to where Raditz was waiting. "Thanks for helping me out in there," Goku said sarcastically.

"Yuck," Raditz said not understanding. "The only way I'd ever do that is if it were with two other girls, and definitely not with your wife. I mean, if Anko was okay with it-maybe, but reluctantly."

"Shut up already," Goku said. "Your digging an idiot-ditch that you might not be able to climb out of this time, pervert."

"Humph. Shows what you know Kakarot. I'm a family man now. I've got responsibilities and-"

"And you're just as immature as you were before. What do you want?"

"Huh? Oh, I don't have Geno's gift yet. I thought that, since you're good at last minute decisions, you could help me out. What do you say?"

"Hmm…alright," Goku reluctantly agreed. "Procrastinator. Hey Tal, what are you still doing in there?" he waved her over.

"Sorry, I just thought I'd give you a little time to cool down, if you know what I mean," she said while blushing.

'_Man, both of them are idiots. Why are they always the first ones to think in the gutter_?' "I think you guys have embarrassed yourselves enough. Now let's get down to business. What can we get for Geno that he doesn't already have and that nobody else will think of?"

"Uh…" both Raditz and Tatalia responded.

"Oh, come on you guys! You're not going to make me do all the work are you?"

"Uh…"

"Raditz, Geno is your son! All you have to do is think"

"Well, um…he's turning two tomorrow, he's got brown hair, brown eyes, and he poops a lot."

Goku and Tatalia both face vaulted.

"What kind of a father are you?" Goku asked, rubbing his sore face. "It sounds like I know him better than you do."

"Yeah, Raditz. You can do better than that!" Tatalia scolded. "You should be the one pick his gift."

Raditz stood there rubbing his chin in what appeared to be a serious thinking pose. He looked incredibly focused, thinking intently on what to do. Then, after several minutes of contemplation, it finally looked as if he had come up with a great idea that would solve the problem.

"Well…?" Goku asked, expecting to be blown away by a miracle idea of Raditz'.

"I…got nothing."

"Then what the hell was that just now?" Tatalia yelled as she smacked Raditz across the top of his head.

"Ouch! What'd you do that for? My chin was itching okay!"

'_I can't believe it. Raditz, my only brother, is a complete imbecile. What does that say about me_?'

Goku just sighed and lifted off the ground. He began to float away slowly, hoping to escape unnoticed so he could wallow in his depression. He moved further and further and then turned away to blast off. As soon as he turned, Raditz and Tatalia appeared in front of him.

"Going somewhere?"

"Of course not," Goku laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Come on, Kakarot, time's running out! I need your help! Please brother," Raditz pleaded.

"Okay, okay. I guess I really do know your own son better than you. Let's see… He hasn't really gotten into heavy training yet; He's got a few rivals at his daycare; He's still learning how to fly; and he's got no respect for authority figures."

"Right. How do we use this knowledge to help us?" Raditz asked.

"I was giving you hints about him so you could get him something useful, duh!"

"Well, every time I talk to him he goes on and on about his Super Saiyan uncle," Tatalia nudged Goku in his side while smiling. "He wants to be 'just-like-you' when he grows up," she laughed. "It's so cute."

"Really?" Goku asked. "I never noticed…"

"Maybe you should pay more attention."

"Man, I need to spend more time with my kid," Raditz said to himself. "So, it all comes down to you brother. What are you gonna do for the nephew that idolizes you?"

"Huh?" Goku asked.

"I know!" Tatalia chimed in. "You could teach him a few moves! You know, train him a little bit."

"You're forgetting, Tatalia," Raditz started. "Remember the promise he made to train you? You don't look like a Super Saiyan to me."

Goku waved his hands at Raditz, motioning for him to shut up.

"You've been married for two years and he still hasn't shared his skills with you yet."

'_Shut up, shut up, shut up_,' Goku panicked.

"Hey!" Tatalia said in angry realization. "He's right, Kakarot. When were you planning to make good on that promise of yours?" she shouted into his face.

"I was going to get around to it eventually," he said attempting to defend himself.

"Come to think of it, you've flaked on just about everything you said you were gonna do!"

"Uh…"

"That's it! From now on, I'm going to hold you responsible for _every-single-word _that comes out of that mouth of yours!" Tatalia lectured, beginning to show her wrath. "You are going to train Geno, _and_ you're going to train me, _and_ you're going to be at my school for the _rest of this week_!"

'_The rest of the week_?' GULP. Goku swallowed the lump in his throat and sighed in defeat.

"Alright then," Raditz said happily. "It looks like my son gets to have a Super Saiyan sensei for his birthday. Now that that's settled, I guess we should go home so I can tell Anko I have a gift."

"Oh no you don't!" Tatalia exploded at Raditz. "We're not going _anywhere_ with you! We've still got a _romantic_ evening that we are going to spend with _each other_! Isn't that _right_, Kakarot?"

"Uh-huh," Goku whimpered.

"Now get out of here before I hurt you! Me and my husband want to enjoy our precious time together!"

"Okay," Raditz said in his smallest possible voice.

He immediately turned and flew away as fast as he could.

"So…" Goku said working up the courage to speak after Tatalia had calmed down a bit, "what do you want to do now that we can't eat at that restaurant?"

"I'm going window shopping, and you're coming with me."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Raditz heard the horrified cry of Goku echo in the night sky as he flew home at top speed. '_Yikes_.'

But that wasn't the worst thing that was happening under the light of the stars that night.

At a distant Saiyan outpost on the border of their space, a more sinister evil was at work…

The dark corridors of the space station were littered with debris from the attack that was being inflicted. The pitch blackness due to main power loss was difficult for even a Saiyan to see in. And death cries of many soldiers could be heard reverberating off of the hull. No blasts were ever fired, though. Whatever was slaughtering these Saiyans killed with its bear hands.

One young man crawled behind a console in the control room. He was an ensign who regulated the functions of the comms. system for the entire base. In a situation like this he should have activated a distress beacon, however, when he heard the disgusting gurgling noises of men being decapitated and dismembered, he abandoned his work station and hid.

Now he was crouching behind a console trying to restrain his fear so that the enemy would not detect him. He trembled all over and perspired profusely. His shaky breaths were accompanied by tears that he struggled to keep from falling from his eyes.

He'd heard about death before and was never afraid of it - until now. Most of his crew mates were being killed, but some were dismembered and left alive. Their agonizing screams of pain were nauseating to him and the stench of blood filled the air, but he intended to return to his work station as soon as he worked up the nerve.

He cried because he knew his life would end here. All he could do was hope that he got a message out before it happened.

He froze.

They enemy was in the control room with him.

All of the officers that went out into the hallway to defend the control room hadn't even slowed the creature down.

The ensign could hear crunching sounds coming from the creature's direction. It sounded like it was chewing on something. Then it dawned on him. It was snacking on the severed limbs of the fallen soldiers.

That was it. That was the limit of what the ensign could handle and he immediately hurled the contents of his stomach on the floor right in front of him.

'_Shit_.'

He had given away his position. The perpetually shadowed monster dropped the leg it was gnawing on and sniffed in the ensigns direction.

'_Move, move, move_.'

Already having come to terms with his fate, the ensign decided that he wanted to go out with a fight. So he swelled up the ki inside his body and prepared to release every iota of it at once as the creature slowly stalked over to him.

"Take this you sick bastard!" he yelled as he stood up and exploded with ki.

After that, everything became a white blur as he entered a state of blind rage. He had only a vague sense of awareness and it remained that way for a good few minutes.

A deafening scream and shot of pain brought his rational mind back into alignment with his body. It was dark once again and he had a coppery taste in the back of his mouth. It was blood. He touched two of his fingers to his abdominal area, which felt warm and tingly, and realized he had an open gash that went down from his neck to his stomach.

He stumbled over, with the last of his strength, to his work station and collapsed to his knees. Then he saw it. The little blinking L.E.D. of the active beacon.

Somehow, in his daze, he had managed to point the antenna and activate the message. His last duty as a junior ranking Saiyan officer was complete.

Knowing that, he relaxed and fell flat to the floor in a pool of his own blood, letting the darkness take him.


	5. The Weight Of It All

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own dbz.

**CHAPTER 5: THE WEIGHT OF IT ALL**

"Show it to me," Vegeta said as he entered the long range transmission routing room at the core of the royal palace.

"Yes, sir," the operator replied. "This is the only video footage that the rescue team was able to recover."

The static across the giant screen hanging from the ceiling was replaced by a fuzzy dark image.

"What's this?" Vegeta asked.

"It's the footage, sir. The main power on the base was knocked out during the attack. This whole thing was recorded in pitch blackness on emergency power."

"Can you switch it to night vision?"

"I already have an infrared copy being processed, but we'll need to run the un-tampered with version along side it because it gets really bright at one point. It should be done right…about…now."

"Fine, whatever."

"Resuming."

The screen became split between a near black image on the left, and a greenish-gray one on the right. As the recording played out, loud grunting and clicking noises could be heard off screen. Vegeta assumed it was the native language of whatever aliens had boarded the station.

His focus shifted as the crash of a collapsing bulkhead caused a few sparks to fly across the screen. Vibration from the crash had loosened the camera from it's mounts and it fell upside down, dangling inches from the floor by wires. With the image flipped upside down, it became tougher to keep up with. It wasn't enough to cause a problem though.

All of a sudden, the doors at the end of the dark corridor opened and six officers stepped out forming a defense barrier.

"Get back in there Thyne! We need you at your post," the voice of the Captain, who was at the front of the formation, crackled over the static laden audio. "Work on getting power back to the long range transmitter."

The young boy, Thyne, who appeared to be an ensign, saluted his Captain and reluctantly left his companions to buy him time to fix the comms system. Thyne went back into the control room, doors sliding shut behind him. The five who remained each assumed a fighting pose and stood firm for a few minutes.

Finally, when footsteps, presumably the alien creature's, became audible approaching the entrance to the corridor, a man to the right of the Captain broke formation and began sprinting forward to attack. He ran right past the camera, leaving Vegeta and the operator unsure of his proximity to the alien. His battle cry gave them some sort of an idea but was quickly cut off and replaced by gurgling noises. It wasn't hard to guess that the guy was choking on his own blood.

"How's it coming in there?" the Captain yelled to the ensign in the room.

"I've got power, but the antenna needs to be repositioned in order to send a distress call far enough!" Thyne shouted through the glass doors.

"You've got five minutes at best!" the Captain yelled as he watched the three other men next to him take off in the direction of the monster, which was still off screen.

It was painfully evident that the alien creature was out of their league as body parts flew back across the screen toward the Captain, who ducked. A severed head busted through the sliding glass door behind him and landed in front of Thyne, who looked horrified. Thyne could be seen in background diving over a console to the floor in a panic and disappearing from view.

The Captain stood up to full height once again and bowed his head momentarily to say a prayer. After calming himself, he made a suicide dash toward the creature.

Vegeta shook his head as he heard the noise of the Captains body flop to the ground. '_At least he died with honor_.'

"Hhhghaaaahh!" the Captain's voice could still be heard as he cried out in agony.

Vegeta's eyes widened as the Captain fell into view right in front of the camera. Actually, it was only the top half of him. He laid on his side, face right up on the camera, unaware that it was on. His eyes were glazed over with tears as he suffered agony beyond comprehension. Fate had decided that he would not die as quickly as his comrades had.

'_Move_!' Vegeta inwardly cursed at the man who blocked the camera's view of the creature as it walked past him toward the room where Thyne was hidden.

The Captain hacked up blood onto the camera lens and then passed out onto his back. With him down, most of the lens was permitted a view of what was going on in the background. Unfortunately, a smudge of blood inhibited them from identifying the creature.

'_Damn!_'

The creature that was smudged out stopped shortly after passing through the doorway. It had something in it's hand that it brought up to it's face area.

"Freeze it!" Vegeta blurted out.

The operator immediately paused the video.

"Isolate and enhance grid A-Twenty-One-Hundred," Vegeta ordered, pointing to a part of the thing the creature was holding that was partially un-obscured by the blood smear.

Within five seconds the image was zoomed and sharpened and they both saw what was being held by the creature.

"H- he's taking a bite out of one of the Captain's legs," the operator stuttered in disbelieving horror.

Vegeta ground his teeth in anger and disgust. 'Who would do such a thing?'

"Sir," the operator addressed Vegeta, looking rather pale. "Do you want me to continue?" he asked reluctantly.

"No, I've seen enough."

The operator sighed in relief and pressed a button to deactivate the playback system.

"Notify me when the recovery team completes there assessment of the station. I want a detailed report on that whatever that thing was," Vegeta said in an emotionless tone before turning and exiting the room.

He projected a stern exterior as he walked across the grounds of the royal complex and made his way to his own personal training facility that Bardock had designed for him.

As soon as the doors to his exercise chamber closed behind him, Vegeta staggered over to a bench and collapsed. Sure, he was skilled at keeping his emotions buried on the inside, but he had no control over what they did to him while they were there. He felt as if his guts had been wrenched out of him, pureed, and then re-injected. He couldn't stand to see that done to his Saiyan brethren. This was different than normal pain.

Normal pain to him was either guilt over people he had hurt in the past or just plain physical. This pain, however, sickened him to no end. Seeing one of his own people eaten alive was beyond this hardened warriors tolerable limits. Even he would not wish such a fate on the bitterest of his enemies.

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"Happy Birthday!" everyone cheered and applauded for Geno, who soaked up the attention like a sponge.

Geno was about three feet tall with short brown spiky hair that was parted in the middle. He wore a white jumpsuit with no armor or gloves, and his boots were black.

They had just finished eating and had sung him the standard birthday song for the entire universe.

"Hey, guess what sport," Raditz said to his son who sat in his lap.

"Yeah daddy?"

"I got you're uncle here to agree to train you. He'll teach you how to become a Super Saiyan."

"I will?" Goku said through a spew of juice.

Raditz and Tatalia immediately shot glares at him from across the kitchen table.

"Uh…Of course I will," Goku corrected himself.

Anko, who stood behind the chair Raditz and Geno were in, smiled and rubbed one of her husband's shoulders. "Honey, can I see you alone for a second?" she asked.

"Sure," Raditz said, handing Geno off to Bardock and getting up. "Excuse me," he said to everyone else before following Anko into the living room.

"That was really sweet of you to agree to something like that, Kakarot," Tannipu said as she did the dishes. "I bet it was all you. Raditz is lucky to have a brother like you. He never thinks of anything himself."

"It's nothing mom, really," Goku blushed.

"Cut him some slack Tanni," Bardock started. "You expect too much of him just because he's the oldest. And you treat Kakarot like he's still a little baby."

"That's because he is still my baby." She paused her dishwashing to pinch Goku's cheeks.

"Mom," Goku sighed in embarrassment.

"You know babe," Bardock continued. "You really give him too much credit. He didn't have a choice in the matter. Tatalia made him do it. She even made him agree to a week of school."

"Is this true?" Tannipu raised a curious eyebrow at Tatalia.

"Absolutely," Tatalia claimed with a look of triumph on her face.

"Good for you, Tatalia," she praised enthusiastically. "You know, if you don't put your foot down, men will never respect you. I'm very proud of you." She turned and faced Goku. "You've sure found yourself a good woman, son. Make sure you keep her."

"Respect? Fear is more like it…" Bardock muttered under his breath.

"I heard that…" Tannipu warned Bardock as she resumed cleaning the dishes.

Bardock swallowed his pride and kept his mouth shut after that. One thing that he had warned Goku about was not to regard Saiyan women lightly. Not only did they have a naturally domineering nature, but they also had the strength to impose their will upon you.

There was an uncomfortable silence after that due to Goku's and Bardock's reluctance to strike up any conversation.

Goku sat with his chin resting in his palms and elbows on the table, bored out of his mind. He turned his attention to the living room across the hall and saw Anko whispering something into Raditz' ear while seductively touching his face.

'_WTF_?' Goku thought.

Raditz giggled and began kissing her neck. Soon they were in a full blown make-out session and started touching each other in…places.

'_Yuuuuckkk_!' Goku screamed inwardly and shut his eyes. "Excuse me!" he said getting up and running to the bathroom in a hurry.

"Where are you going?" everyone in the kitchen asked him in succession.

"I'm going to hurl!" Goku called from down the hall, right before diving into the bathroom and slamming the door. "Oh God…" he cried in between fits of puke, "it was horrible…I'm going to have nightmares…for weeks!"

Tannipu turned off the running water, having finished the dishes, and listened to Goku's muffled cries, concern written on her face. '_My poor baby. I hope it wasn't any of the food I made_…'

Tatalia stood up and looked around, wondering what Goku had seen. When she caught a glimpse of Raditz and Anko getting into it like a couple of teenagers in the living room with the lights off, she nearly lost all the cake and ice cream she had just eaten.

"Aaaahh!" she screamed in horror. "What the hell are you doing? Get a room you freaks!"

Bardock handed Geno to Tannipu and ran into the living room, switching on the lights. "Hey! What the hell are you two doing on my sofa?" He yelled as he pulled them off by the skin of their necks. "How dare you two do that in the open! Raditz, I've had just about enough of your inability to control yourself. That's how you got a kid in the first place! And you, Anko, should know better than to encourage his behavior!" he scolded in a moment of true parenthood.

Bardock began dragging them toward a sliding glass window in the kitchen. He carried them right past Tatalia and Tannipu, who still held her grandson. When he reached the window he slid it open with his teeth and then drop-kicked each of them out. "If you want to do _that_ then do it at _your_ house, not mine! Next time you wont be so lucky!" he yelled out to them before slamming the glass shut behind them, cracking it.

"Ohh, I love it when a man takes charge!" Tannipu pounced on Bardock after dropping Geno on Tatalia.

Bardock was surprised, but soon succumbed to his wife's advances and began kissing her back.

Goku came back from the bathroom looking somewhat queasy and the first thing he saw when he entered the kitchen was his mom and dad all over each other. "Will it never end?" he screamed as he turned tail and ran back to the bathroom to hurl.

Tannipu got up, pulled Bardock off of the floor, and began to quickly walk down the hall to the master bedroom, dragging him behind her.

Tatalia could hear their disgusting giggles of pleasure echo down the hallway. She shuddered at the thought. '_Those two are just as bad as Raditz and Anko. Sometimes, I question the sanity of this family…but I guess being stupid is a small price to pay for being strong_.' "Come on Geno. Let's go get your uncle."

"Yay!"

Tatalia set him on his feet and held his hand as they walked over to the bathroom door and knocked.

"Hey…are you okay in there?"

"I'll be alright," Goku said weakly through the door. "Just let me brush my teeth."

"Okay. Uh, me and Geno will go outside and wait for you."

"Alright," he said over the running water. "Don't start training without me."

Tatalia and Geno went upstairs and opened the roof door. They stepped out onto the roof and sat down to wait for Goku.

"So, Geno. Can you fly yet?"

"Um…kinda."

"Oh yeah?"

"Uh-huh. You wanna see?"

"Sure," she smiled.

"Kay," Geno said getting up and planting his feet firmly on the domed roof. He took a sort of power up stance and furrowed his brows in concentration. A soft wind picked up as he summoned his ki and began to push it under him. His hair started to sway in the breeze as he lifted off of the roof a few inches and levitated. It was evident he was trying hard as sweat dripped down his face.

"That's good," Tatalia applauded him.

"No,…I can do more…than this. I can!" he said more to himself than to her.

'_The little guy sure is determined_.'

Geno closed his eyes as he pushed his ki beneath him as hard as he could. There was a momentary delay of reaction before his ki swelled under him. Then, he shot up an extra ten feet and spiraled out of control.

"Aaaahh! Help! I'm too high!" Geno shouted after looking down. With his ki temporarily used up, he began to fall back down to the roof.

"Gotcha," Goku said as he appeared out of nowhere and caught Geno.

"Uncle! You saved me!"

"Kakarot? Where did you come from? I didn't even notice you come out of the door."

"I don't really have any reason to use doors, Tal," Goku winked at her, indicating the use of Instant Transmission.

"So, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, my stomach just had a moment of weakness. And, of course, I saw a few disturbing images that will scar me for life. I'm actually more concerned with Geno here though," Goku said patting him on the head and setting him down. "He burned through his ki pretty quickly."

"He was just showing me his flying. Isn't that right cutie?" she pinched his cheeks.

"Grandma does that too," he muttered as he rubbed his cheeks.

"So, are you guys ready for my training?"

"Yep!" both Tatalia and Geno saluted.

"Alright! It's going to be tough, but if you stick with the exercises I teach you, you'll improve in both skill and strength in no time."

"We're ready to go!" Tatalia sang enthusiastically.

"Okay, let me get my stuff real quick," Goku said disappearing and then reappearing with a black duffle bag.

"What stuff? What's that?"

"It's for your guys' training. Let's find a suitable spot to start and then I'll show you what it is."

"Um, alright."

Goku strapped the duffle bag across his shoulder and then took off. Tatalia followed with Geno on her back. They flew a short distance before landing on the plateau above the waterfall.

"This is good," Goku said setting down the duffle bag gently and unzipping it.

"So what's in there?" Tatalia asked impatiently.

"Yeah, what?" Geno jumped excitedly.

"These will aid in your training," Goku said pulling out several items of weighted clothing.

"Weights? That's it? How much of a difference can those make?"

"These aren't the kind of ordinary weights you're used to, Tal," he said with a grin.

"Oh, come on, Kakarot. Weights can only do so much. There isn't a set of weights heavy enough to make a difference to me."

"Here. Catch." Goku tossed weighted wristbands, boots, and armor in her direction.

The weights landed right in front of her and slammed into the ground with a force so strong that it created a fifty foot deep crater.

Tatalia's and Geno's eyes popped out of their sockets and their jaws dropped in amazement at how such small weights were so heavy. They were left speechless.

"Those are composed of the most dense metal known to exist in the universe. My dad was able to synthesize them from a minute sample he procured in outer space. You should feel lucky. We're the only ones on this planet with those; for the moment. Now, those are just for starters. That set will simulate fifty times normal gravity. I have heavier ones in this duffle bag for you to use as you progress."

"What about me?" Geno asked, raising his hand.

"I have a set of regular weights for you," Goku said, reaching into his duffle bag and pulling out standard beginner weights. "Once you get strong enough, you'll be able to wear the same ones as Tal."

"Oh, okay."

Tatalia stood at the edge of the crater in silence and looked down to the bottom of it in disbelief. '_Those weights…Is this payback for the whole 'week of school' thing_?' She sighed and glanced over to Goku who was resting against a rock.

Goku had his trademark Son Grin plastered on his face. "Well, I'm ready whenever you are."

Tatalia's eye twitched. '_Damn him_.'


	6. Too Cool For Skool

**DISCLAIMER:** Yet again, I do not own dragonball

**CHAPTER 6: TOO COOL FOR SKOOL**

Bardock rolled over in his bed and looked at his clock. It was five-thirty in the morning, Monday. He hadn't slept the entire night. He couldn't help it. His thoughts dwelled on the revelation he had had a few days earlier. This morning he was finally going to put it to the test. The past two years of training with his son had gotten him to a point where he was physically capable. Now that he had the power, all he needed to do was call it out.

He sat up and sniffed the air. "Hmm…I guess Tanni left me some tea on the stove."

Tannipu was usually only home on the weekends. Due to her busy job as an ambassador to the peace treaty with neighboring planets, she was almost always off world trying to keep a political relations disaster from erupting. Bardock tried his best to train only during the week so he could spend his wife's days off with her. And although he hated politics, he would pretend to be interested in her ranting about work because he knew she needed to vent to someone.

Bardock sluggishly pulled himself out of bed and stretched on his clean blue elite bodysuit followed by polished armor. If he successfully became a Super Saiyan today he would need to immediately seek an audience with the king and his old, out of date, low-level uniform just wouldn't cut it. His family had technically been elite since the junior tournament two years ago, but he and Goku never left their land so there was no reason to ever upgrade their garments.

"Damn, this thicker material is itchy as hell," Bardock complained as he adjusted the cloth around his neck.

He walked into the kitchen, still whining about his outfit, and poured himself a cup of tea.

"What's the occasion?" Goku asked from a chair with his feet propped up onto the table. He was already sucking down a cup of his own.

"I've got an appointment with destiny. Oh, and I've got one with the king too…sort of. Anyway, I need to look sharp today. If you're going to be going to school with Tatalia, I suggest you do the same."

Goku sprayed tea out of his mouth and onto the table. "Crap, I forgot about that already! Damn, this sucks!"

"Hey, uh, where is she anyway?" Bardock looked around curiously after taking a sip of his tea.

"I'm right…here," Tatalia struggled to say as she took baby steps into the kitchen.

"Hey, what's with you?" Bardock asked.

"Weights…huge," was all she could get out before pausing and gasping for air.

Goku laughed when he saw her. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about those too. School wont be so bad." **(SMACK)**.

"Shut…up!" Tatalia shouted through her teeth as she suddenly appeared behind him and socked him upside the head.

"Ouch!" Goku yelled as he frantically rubbed the back of his skull.

"Well, now we know you've definitely got enough strength in you for those weights," Bardock chuckled. **(SMACK)**. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"I…just felt…like it!"

"Uh…good luck with that son," Bardock said after finishing the last of his tea in one gulp. "I'm gonna head out and start my day now. Have a good day!" he waved as opened the patio door and stepped out. "Oh, and remember what I said about changing your clothes. See ya!"

"Huh?" Tatalia looked curious as he blasted off. "Where's he going?" she asked Goku as she took a seat. "Aren't you going to train him anymore?"

"To tell you the truth, he hasn't really needed me for a while. I've just been sitting back and waiting for him to figure out the rest on his own." **(SMACK)**."Hey! Why'd you hit me that time?" he asked while rubbing his jaw.

Tatalia was on her feet again and looming over Goku like a specter. "This whole time…you wasted…with him…when you could've…spent with me?" she breathed angrily with a fist up and an eye twitching.

"I- I don't like that look in your eyes. W-wait! What are you doing? Noooooo!" **(SMACK)(SMACK)(SMACK)(SMACK)(SMACK)(SMACK)(SMACK)(SMACK)(SMACK).**

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Bardock landed in his usual training spot and immediately began stretching. He wanted to start his power up feeling totally relaxed, and that meant warming up his muscles.

When he finally finished, the sun had already come up.

"Ah…" Bardock breathed in and exhaled. "Nothing beats this morning air. Well, I guess it's do or die. Here goes nothing," he said, assuming a power up stance. "Haaaaaa…"

Wind began rushing away from Bardock in all directions. It was the kind so intense that you could spit and it would fly for miles. Bardock ground his teeth and ignited his white aura. He powered up normally for the first part just to get to the point right before finding the golden energy. Then, his new method came into play. Closing his eyes and clearing his mind of all thought, he stopped screaming and let go of all of his doubts and worries. Without being hindered by thoughts of failure and negativity, his energy burst forth unrestricted. Instead of a hint or flicker of golden energy, a steady flow erupted and replaced all of his normal ki. Bardock still did not open his eyes.

His state of meditation kept him from over concentrating and over tensing his body, thus allowing the golden ki to fully transform him. His hair lifted and shined golden before settling into blond. His muscles became stronger and more dense, but did not suffer the same problem as before. Finally, he opened his eyelids and viewed the world through a set of teal orbs for the first time. Bardock was a Super Saiyan.

He looked at his reflection in the water and was stunned. His blond hair looked exactly like his son's. Except for his bandanna and the scars on his face, he was a dead-ringer for Goku.

He touched his face and ran a hand over the blond spikes hanging in front of his forehead. Somehow, he had achieved what was once thought impossible. He, who was born a low-level, was now a Super Saiyan and an elite.

"This," Bardock started, "is so FUCKING AWESOME! Yes! Hell Yes! Who's the man? _I'm_ the man! Don't fuck with Bardock 'cause he's the man! Uh-huh! Oh Yeah! What's up!"

Bardock began dancing around and cheering for himself in the third-person, the whole time looking like an idiot. Lucky for him, nobody was around. He went on like that for about a half hour before remembering that he was supposed to head to the capital to see the king.

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Goku emerged from his room dressed in his new blue elite gear. Tatalia, meanwhile, sat in the living room clad in the same green female elite attire that she had worn for the past two years. Goku fidgeted in his outfit, just as Bardock had, and rubbed his sore black eyes. He also scratched at the itchy bandages around his forehead.

"You didn't have to go and abuse me, you know," Goku started. "If we were on Earth, I'd take you onto the Dr. Phil show for counseling. We're supposed to _love_ each other, not try to kill one another with his own boots."

"Keh. Shut up, bitch," she breathed from her spot on the couch, which happened to be severely sunken in where she was sitting. She shot Goku a look that said 'I'll hurt you if you don't obey me.'

"Yes dear," he replied fearfully. '_A Super Saiyan cowering in fear? What a pathetic sight I must be…But she did adjust to those weights pretty quickly. Maybe I should be scared_.'

"Let's get going, Kakarot. School starts at seven and it'll take about an hour to fly there. Oh and, by the way, you're carrying me."

"No problemo. You probably wont be able to fly for a few more days anyway."

"I also want you to power down."

"But why? I went out to that restaurant like this."

"Because the instructors at school are more observant than some half-drunk club hoppers looking for a fight. And, thanks to your father's research, all new instructors are trained to be highly skilled in detecting ki. So power down, okay."

Goku stared off into space and seemed lost in thought for a few seconds. He smiled when he sensed Bardock's transformation. '_I guess he really doesn't need me anymore_…' "Alright, Tal," he sighed as he reverted to his normal form.

'_That was easy_,'she thought.

"Well," Goku said as he walked upstairs toward the roof exit. "Let's get this over with."

"Hey, wait up," Tatalia called out as she jumped off of the couch with great effort.

By the time she made it up the stairs and onto the roof, she was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Goku was laying on his back and watching the clouds float apart.

"There you are," he said. "I've been waiting for like ten minutes. Let's go before we're late." **(SMACK)**. "Ouch! Sorry!" he quickly apologized before getting up and allowing Tatalia to hop onto his back. Goku glared at her over his shoulder and then blasted off, totally unaffected by the extra amount of weight she carried. "So, what are we gonna be doing once we get there?" he asked as they ascended above the clouds.

"Well, this last week is for our final exams. So, you're most likely going to just sit in and watch."

"Man, how boring. Isn't there anything more constructive I can do?"

"Um…" Tatalia paused in thought. "You might be able to participate if you want, but it depends mostly on what the teacher says."

"Why'd you make me commit to a whole week if you knew I wouldn't get to do anything?"

"It was to teach you the consequences of failing to keep your word, but I had no idea you were actually interested in taking part."

"Yeah, of course I am. I've never been to school in all of my years and I'm curious."

"I guess I could try and convince my teacher to treat you like a student."

"Cool!"

'_Man_,'she sighed. '_I thought he hated school. Now I find out that he's never even been to one. His expectations are way too high. It sucks_.'

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"Yaaaaahhhooooo!" Bardock shouted ecstatically as he performed twists and zigzags in the sky at velocities he used to dream about. His path was marked by a rapidly spreading gap in the clouds that stretched on for hundreds of miles. "This is amazing!"

He appeared over the capital a couple of seconds later and accelerated toward the center of the mega-city where the royal complex stood. He passed over a few main streets as he wove in between skyscraper, leaving many citizen's scouters dysfunctional. He burned with excitement as he landed on the steps that led to the entrance of the main political operations building, where the king resided during the day.

He jogged up the steps and through the revolving doors, passing a few lawyers and foreign diplomats on his way. Once in the lobby, he jogged directly up to the front desk.

"May I help you, sir?" the secretary behind the desk asked as she typed away on her computer, not bothering to take her eyes off of the screen.

"I need to see the king, right away," Bardock announced while jogging in place.

"Do you have an appointment?" she continued, still not looking at him.

"Here," Bardock said, tossing his VIP badge onto her keyboard.

The secretary stopped typing and picked up the badge. She held it up as her eyes drifted back and forth between Bardock and his picture. "Hmm…you're Bardock?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh," he said, unable to stand still.

"Are you sure?" she looked at him skeptically.

"Yeah, what's the problem? Oh, wait. Hold on," Bardock said, realizing that he appeared differently as a Super Saiyan. He ceased his hyperactive fidgeting and powered down.

The lady stared at him, unblinking, and her jaw hung open as she watched his gravity-defying blond hair turn black and fall down, right before her eyes. She was in a state of confused silence.

Bardock leaned in close to pick up his VIP badge and whispered into her ear. "I'll let you in on a soon to be open secret. You just saw a Super Saiyan." He pulled back and stuffed his badge back in between his chest armor and the cloth of his blue suit.

The secretary stared into space for moment and considered what Bardock had just said. She doubted his statement, but decided to check the scouter data that was always recorded with the security cameras. She leaned down and opened a cabinet under her desk, intending to hit rewind on the monitor equipment, but instead found it melted and warped from an overload. '_What the_…' She immediately popped back up and looked at Bardock curiously. '_Nah, couldn't be. It was just a coincidence_,' she thought.

"So are you going to page him?" Bardock asked anxiously.

No sooner than he had spoken, the voice of King Vegita blared out of the intercom. "Terani! I just felt an immense power approach the building and then disappear. What's going on down there?"

"I- It's nothing, sir. I just have a visitor for you. He says his name is Bardock."

"Bardock? What are you waiting for, Terani? Send him in right away!"

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" She pulled a keycard out of a drawer and handed it to Bardock. "Bring that back here when you're done."

"Yes ma'am," Bardock waved as he took off down the huge, ten story high atrium behind her. He eagerly made his way through the crowd of senators and lobbyists that littered the, subway station sized, corridors and soon came to a silver elevator with a kiosk mounted in the wall to the right of it. He slid the keycard across the bottom of it, causing the doors of the elevator to open along with a chiming noise. "Almost there," he said to himself after stepping inside.

The doors closed behind him and the hum of the moving cables kicked in as he began his lift to the top floor. The ride lasted about five minutes, and when the doors opened to Vegita's office, Bardock walked out holding his ears and mumbling something about 'That damn elevator music' and not being able to get it out of his head.

"Yes, I've tried to get that fixed," the King started, "But it just keeps getting worse. I should fire whoever's in charge of making that crap."

Bardock immediately straightened up and saluted. "Good morning sire."

King Vegita chuckled. "No need to be so formal, Bardock. You need to loosen up a little bit. Remember what I said about only doing that in public? You're on my buddy list, so be cool."

"Yeah, heh heh, It must've slipped my mind."

"So," Vegita said, propping his feet up onto the desk, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he said as his eyes lit up with excitement once again.

Vegita saw the look in Bardock's eyes and knew it was something major. He only had that look on special occasions. Vegita slid his feet back down to the floor and stood up. He looked Bardock square in the eyes. "Is it higher than an eight on the 'Oh shit' scale?"

Bardock nodded and smiled. "Before I say anything, I need you to agree to think openly."

"Uh…okay."

"I unlocked the door to Super Saiyan!"

The King looked at him skeptically. "What! Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a second. Are you trying to say that you're a Super Saiyan or something?"

"Yes!"

Vegita broke into an uncontrollable fit of laughter and fell to the floor. He laughed so hard that tears formed in his eyes. He held his gut in pain as he continued to laugh hysterically. After a few minutes, gaps in his laughter allowed him to breathe and return to his seat. He wiped a few tears from his eyes and looked at Bardock, who wasn't the slightest bit amused. "You're serious?"

"That's what I said didn't I ? Think back to the power you felt earlier…that was me!"

"Nonsense! Terani said it was nothing! I was bored, I let my mind wander and it ended up playing a trick on me."

"Just give me a chance to prove it."

The King pondered for a few seconds before answering. "Fine. What the hell. If you were anybody else, I'd slap a straight jacket on you, but the fact that this is coming from you has me intrigued."

"Brace yourself," Bardock warned.

Bardock stood there in silence as the room filled with wind. The steadily growing tornado picked up all of the propositions and bills on Vegita's desk and flung them around the room. It wasn't like Vegita enjoyed office work anyway. Then, golden ki erupted from Bardock, accompanied by seismic tremors that shook the office like a bottle of chocolate milk.

Vegita's eyes widened as he recognized the ki. "Holy shit! This is fucking amazing!" he shouted over all of the noise.

In an instant, Bardock's hair was blond again and his eyes gleamed teal. He calmed his aura a bit and walked over to the King, who had an ear to ear grin spread across his face.

"I- I can't believe it. You've done it. I know I should feel disappointed that I wasn't the first, but all I can think about is how we're going to rub this in Frieza's face. This is great!" the King shouted. "Man, I feel like dancing!"

"I had the same reaction!" Bardock laughed out loud.

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Goku's eyes darted from side to side as he descended toward the school grounds along with a crowd of other kids his age. A lot of the kids were staring at him and it made him uncomfortable. He could hear them talking amongst each other.

"Hey, Tal," he whispered over his shoulder.

"What?" she whispered back.

"Why are they looking at us like that?"

"They're probably wondering why a kid half covered in bandages, whom they've never seen before, is hauling me around on his back."

"Oh."

"Let me down, okay."

"Are you sure? We're still pretty high up."

"Yeah, I'll be alright."

"Okay, whatever you say," Goku reluctantly agreed. He released his hands from the back of her legs so she could move.

Tatalia jumped gracefully off of Goku's back and flipped through the air before falling thirty feet to the ground. She channeled ki down her legs to strengthen them and positioned herself to land feet first. She slammed into the concrete hard with one knee down and virtually disintegrated the walkway within a ten foot diameter. '_Ouch_,' she thought. '_Play it off, Tatalia. Look cool_.' She stood up, dusted herself off, and began walking through the open gates like nothing happened. '_Smooth_.'

"Nice landing," a few kids mocked as they walked right past her.

She ground her teeth in anger but was distracted when Goku landed next to her.

"Hey, that was a great landing," he said sincerely. "I'm surprised you didn't create a crater with all of your extra weight. You were able to slow your descent enough to lessen the impact. That's a sign of you having better control of your ki."

"Oh, thanks." She was caught off guard by the unexpected compliment. Sometimes Goku annoyed her and vise versa, but he had a way of changing your whole mood in an instant. He could make you forget about whatever it was that had you worried, or mad, or afraid. It was a unique gift.

"Those kids are ignorant if they couldn't spot something so obvious like that."

"Yeah, I guess," Tatalia said, already over it.

They started walking down the main concrete path and past a few rows of portable classrooms. The school was a series of small portables grouped together, most arranged in rows of five classes per block, and a slightly taller, cylindrical, building at the center was the office. The only, really big, indoor parts of the school were the four towering gyms that were lined up behind the rest the buildings. One for every two blocks of classrooms. They dwarfed the rest of the school.

Tatalia led Goku to the office, where he was given a guests badge to hang around his neck, before taking him to her class.

"So, what's the first class we're going to?" Goku asked as they walked.

"Actually, we're only going to one class today."

"Really? Why?"

"Well, I've normally got five classes, but since it's finals week, it's going to be one class per day on a half day schedule."

"Oh. So what is it called?"

"It's Advanced Ki Location Tactics."

"Huh?"

"Ki sensing."

"Ohhh…Really? They're teaching that in school already? It hasn't been that long since my dad started sensing ki himself."

"It's been over two years, Kakarot."

"Has it been that long already?"

"You're so dense. You know that Bardock sees the King about new discoveries and whatnot, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, as soon as the King has this information he acts. He expands the curriculum of the educational system to include whatever he thinks is useful to us. It's an effective way of spreading the knowledge throughout the population. Teachers are trained to instruct the students, who go home and show their parents what they learned at school. Everybody is exposed. As a result of the new classes required, school is always getting longer. Five years ago, there wouldn't have been a middle school for anybody to attend. And now they've just recently extended school another four years. So I'll be entering a whole other level of school next year."

"Man, that sucks. You have my pity."

"Yeah, it does and no thanks. I guess its for the greater good, though. Here it is," she said as they came up to the first portable classroom in a set of parallel blocks north-east of the office.

Tatalia led Goku into the classroom, followed by a few other students. The classroom was bland and looked as if it wasn't particularly used frequently. There were three rows of desks arranged facing forward toward the teachers desk which sat at the front of the room, looking dusty and unused. The interior walls were a plain brown and the blackboard had something written on it that Goku couldn't understand. Both of them took seats in the back of class.

Goku counted the number of kids as they filed in and sat down, fifteen, not including the few who were already present. Then, he leaned over to Tatalia and whispered at her. "Hey, is this little classroom really used for kids experimenting with sensing out other ki?

"No. This is just for the opening lecture where our sensei explains the class agenda."

"Oh, okay," he nodded in understanding.

"Shh, she's coming."

A few seconds after all of the students had stopped talking, the female instructor walked in. She was dressed in the traditional green elite jumpsuit for women, except her armor was missing and her lower left leg was wrapped in gauze from her boot to just above her knee. She didn't appear to be injured, though. It must've served another purpose. Her big eyes were piercing and looked as if they'd seen many battles, but she didn't appear a day over the age of twenty-five. She had boyishly short black hair that swooped forward in two-inch long spikes, but it did not detract from her naturally pretty face, which had faint freckles on the cheeks just under her eyes, and a set of full lips like Angelina Jolie.

A kid in the front of class raised his hand and addressed the teacher. "Curi-sensei! Where is you're armor?"

Apparently Goku wasn't wrong to think that that was strange. This must've been the first time she came to school without it.

"I am wearing armor," Curi said matter-of-factly. "This is a new style that few have access to. The reinforcing properties of normal armor have been integrated into the fabric of my second skin," she said referring to her skin tights. "It allows for complete flexibility and maximum protection. After wearing it for awhile, you don't even feel it."

"Awesome! I want one!" the kid who questioned her exclaimed.

"Me too!" a few other kids yelled.

Curi folded her arms and leaned on the front of her desk. "If you want to be like me…then pass this class."

The kids who had yelled out suddenly paused and stared at her. Then they saluted and sat up straight, facing forward, each with a look of a serious determination on their faces.

"That's the spirit," she encouraged them without enthusiasm. Peoples initial impressions of her might've been that she was an emotionless ice queen. This was untrue, however. She was just the type of person who didn't like to show emotion unnecessarily. She would keep her cool and stay objective in every situation, never getting too attached to anything in anyway possible. It helped her maintain a level head at all times, especially in dire battle situations. "Now, if you're ready," she continued, "I can explain the final to you."

She paused for any questions and, when no one raised their hands, she proceeded.

"You'll each be picking a partner to pair off with. Each team of two will receive blindfolds. The object of this final is to rely on your ki senses as you spar with you partner. Your score will be determined by how many vital hits you land on your opponent, not by knock out. The time limit for each match is thirty minutes. You may select your partners now."

Right away, everyone jumped up and scrambled around the room, looking for buddies. Tatalia and Goku were the only ones who remained calm.

Tatalia pulled Goku over to the front of the class where Curi was. "Curi-sensei, is it okay if he's my partner?"

Curi moved her eyes over Goku real quick and answered. "No."

"But why?" Tatalia whined.

"Because he doesn't belong to this school. Find someone else."

Tatalia didn't have to look very far as a young, pencil thin, little boy with buck teeth came up to her and chose her. 'Gross!' she gagged silently.

After about five minutes of chaos, the pairs of kids began lining up by the door. However, there was a chubby kid left in the middle of the room without a partner.

"Well," Curi sighed, "the numbers are uneven." She turned to Goku and waved him over to the chubby kid. "I guess we can use you for something."

"Alright!" Goku cheered as he ran over to introduce himself. "Hi, I'm Go- I mean Kakarot! What's your name?"

"Hi! I'm Ander!" he replied with equal enthusiasm, just happy to have someone talk to him.

"It looks like we're partners. I can't wait!" Goku jumped up and down in anticipation of the action.

"Everybody follow me," Curi ordered as she walked outside.

The whole class marched after Curi for a few minutes. Curi halted them at the entrance to Gym number four, which towered over them at five stories high. She pulled twenty blindfolds out of her sleeves and passed two to each team. Then, she opened the huge double doors and led them inside.

Goku awed at the interior of the building and how huge it was. The surface area, of the floor alone, was the size of six football fields laid out next to each other. The walls and floors were lined with white rubber mats and the support columns were chiseled marble. Also, narrow wooden benches ran along the inner length of the walls. Everyone else was unphased by the gyms appearance. They had seen it hundreds of times and it was ordinary to them.

Curi noticed Goku's expression and looked at him curiously. "You look like you've never seen the inside of a gym before. Your school should have ones just like this or similar."

"Oh, I'm not in school," Goku responded without taking his eyes off of a ten foot thick support column that stretched all the way to the ceiling.

"Excuse me?" Curi raised and eyebrow at him.

"I was never much of a school person."

"Well, if you aren't up to the level of my students, I'm afraid I can't let you participate."

"He's more than capable of handling himself in any situation," Tatalia cut in. "Besides, look at him, he's an elite. It's obvious he's strong."

"That doesn't mean a thing," Curi said turning to look back at Goku, who was still taking in the sight of the enormous gym. She seemed to penetrate Goku's soul with her eyes as she attempted to read him. He appeared to be an average teen on the surface and he was indeed on level with everyone else, but there was something that told her she wasn't seeing everything. It nagged at her so much that she closed her eyes and delved into his mind. She was immediately rejected by a powerful barrier. It was then that her suspicions were justified. No person as young as him should have a mind constructed so complexly. That only came from years of hard battles and life experiences.

All of a sudden she felt herself being probed and realized that she let her guard down when she dove into Goku's mind. She opened her eyes and saw Goku's two orbs of endless black fixed on hers. For a split second, she thought she saw a grown man standing in front of her, but it disappeared as soon as she blinked.

"So can I still be in?" Goku asked as if nothing had happened.

"Fine…but go easy on Ander."

The two shared a silent stare for a second before she addressed the entire class.

"Everybody listen up," she started in her cool voice. "As you can see we're not the only ones using this gym." She pointed to the corners at the opposite end of the gym where other instructors had their students engaged in various activities. "It is important that you stay on this side of the gym. Not just to keep out of the way of those other classes, but to show me how good you are at sensing boundaries while blinded. Also, there's two ways we can carry this out. If you agree to be silent while each team has their spar, I'll let you guys keep your blindfolds off until your turn comes up. But if any of you cheer and give them a point of reference to judge their distance from the boundary, then I'll be forced to blindfold you all. And then nobody will see the action. Are we agreed?"

Everyone nodded silently.

"Good. Then you can all sit along the wall," she motioned to the wall to the right of the doors. "As soon as all of you are seated, I'll call up the first two examinees."

In less than a minute, all students had a seat next to their partners. Curi waved the first two people over and tied each of their blindfolds around their eyes. She guided the two opponents, a low-level boy and a mid-level girl, a short distance away and set them ten feet apart, facing each other. Then, the boy and the girl each took starting poses.

The girl stood bladed with her left shoulder facing the boy and her knees bent slightly. Her left elbow was held up to just below eye level and her right fist was tucked tightly at her side.

The boy stood tall, facing forward, with his feet spread shoulders length apart and his right fist rested on his left palm out in front of him.

Neither had the slightest sign of nervousness. Their faces were stone frozen in concentration as they tried to align their senses to one another.

"Begin," Curi said unceremoniously.

Both stood there motionlessly as they continued to feel out the others ki. For a couple of minutes they battled it out by running scenarios over in their heads and deciding how to start. Finally, when everybody was just about to pass out from boredom, they acted.

The boy sprinted forward and made to tackle the girl like a football player. His style was more rough and straightforward whereas the girls' was more fluid. She lifted her elbow and straightened her arm as she leaned to the side and deflected his body. He was flung over her head and thrown to the ground behind her. The boy spun his body and landed on all fours like a dog. He used all his limbs as springs to launch himself at her once again, this time twice as fast.

This girl was no clay statue, however. By the time the boy was in the air again, she was gone from the spot she previously occupied. She appeared underneath him and, using her hands for support, she double-kicked him straight up, left leg followed by the right, and sent him barreling toward the ceiling. She phased out of sight and reappeared in his path for an obvious rebound punch.

The boy anticipated this even before he sensed it. His back was toward her as he approached so he held his palms a short distance apart and formed a ball of ki in front of his chest. Then, at the last possible second, he flipped around to face her and shoved the ki ball into her face, detonating it. He immediately curled up into a ball to shield himself from the explosion he caused and flew in one end and out the other of the resulting cloud of smoke. He grinned a little as he sensed the girl falling to the floor. He took control of his flight and followed her.

She was not unconscious, though, merely allowing herself to fall freely to give the impression that she was. As she sensed him move in closer she fully ceased using her ki so it would settle to a level low enough to blend in with their sitting classmates. She landed on the padded floor, rolling to disperse some of the impact pain, then hopped up and moved to the wall near where the rest of the class was.

The boy, without his opponents strong ki to guide him, became unsure of his own position and slammed into the floor at an ultra high velocity.

The girl took this opportunity to strike. She got up from her seat by the wall and flipped over to the boy in an instant and commenced raining a barrage of ki blasts down on him, leaving no time for him to even stand. She continued on like that until she could no longer breathe. She stumbled backwards a couple of steps and took a knee while she panted heavily from smoke inhalation.

The boy's ki was severely depleted due to defending against the blasts, but he wasn't as hurt as everyone expected. He had noticed her a split second before being attacked and had just enough time to turn his back to the blasts. Because his ki was so low, his signature was disguised by the still dissipating ki cloud left by the girl. If she tried to locate him she'd only pick up her own remaining ki. He needed to act fast, though. He couldn't hold his breath for much longer.

By now, the girl was on both feet again and rubbing her temples, easing her headache while she searched out his ki.

With the last of his ki, the boy formed a single palm blast and left it to levitate in the girls cloud of ki. Then, on pure physical strength alone, he dove out of the cloud and flipped clear over the girls head. He detonated the ki ball while in mid air, fooling her into thinking he was in front of and not behind her.

She took a step toward his supposed location.

'_I've got her_,'he thought as he landed right behind her and reached out to land the ultimate hit. He swung down a karate chop motion aimed at her lower back, right above where her tail protruded from. Although he could not see, he could sense the collection of nerves that were vital to ki circulation in her body. They were right above the tail. If he struck her there, her ki flow would be temporarily paralyzed and the match would be over. Just before his hand hit, though, he was stopped by something tight around his neck.

The girl had her tail wrapped around his neck. "Tsk, tsk. You were about to resort to a dirty little trick there," she said condescendingly.

"B- but how?"

"You think I couldn't hear you pass right by my face?" she laughed. "You're ridiculous!" She then repeatedly slammed his face into the matted floor with her tail, causing his blindfold to come off. She couldn't see, so she didn't know it was off and kept going.

"Stop it there," Curi interrupted as she caught the boy's face with her foot right before it hit the floor again. "Remove the blindfold Anyun, you ended it early. You knocked his blindfold off. Are you okay Nomato?"

The girl, Anyun, lifted her blindfold as she unwound her tail from Nomato's neck. "How disappointing…" she sighed.

"Well," Curi sighed tiredly, "Since we're ahead of schedule, I'll accept team volunteers for the next match. And do me a favor. Make it interesting, will ya?"

Goku quickly raised his hand and waved it around. "Oh, oh. Pick me!"

Ander glanced at Goku and panicked. He didn't want to go this early so he shook his head frantically while moving his hand past his neck, motioning for him to cut it out.

"Alright. It looks like we have our next team. Ander and Goku, get over here so I can tie your blindfolds."

Goku eagerly jumped to his feet and hopped over to Curi. Ander reluctantly followed. Anyun and Nomato glanced at Ander in passing. They both gave him looks of disgust. Goku noticed this but didn't say anything. '_Maybe they think he's weak_…'

When Curi finished tying their blindfolds, she spaced them ten feet apart like the two previous competitors. "Start."

Unlike the last match, this began right away. Curi barely had time to step out of the way. Ander leaped forward and ran at Goku, his legs moving in a blur. It was so quick that Goku didn't even have time to react. Ander was up on Goku in a millisecond and put all of his weight and momentum into a powerful right punch that hit Goku right in the nose. He followed up with a left palm across his face, continuing to drive Goku backwards. Using his right fist, once more, he socked Goku in the gut, causing him to bend inward a little bit. Then, he brought his right leg up and kneed him in the forehead, lifting him a few feet off of the ground. And finally, he finished with a supercharged uppercut that sent him flying backwards through the air. He accomplished all of this in less than three seconds.

Goku was flipped upside down by the uppercut and he narrowly missed landing on his head when he slammed back down to the ground. '_Holy shit! I underestimated him. I was going to fight at everyone else's level, but it seems he's stronger than everyone else. But then why do they give him dirty looks and not pick him as a teammate_?' His question was quickly answered as he lifted himself from his hands and knees. As soon as he stood, he caught the scent of a horrid stench. It was Anders' gas. Apparently he was incredibly flatulent and released farts with every blow he landed. '_Oh God! That's why they don't like him! He's the strongest in class, but they don't pick him because his farts are terrible_!'

Ander came running at him, full speed. He threw a wild right cross which Goku sidestepped and brushed away with his left hand. Ander kept his momentum and flip twisted around, this time bringing his left fist at Goku's face. Goku leaned to the right and avoided it. Ander came back with a flurry of punches that Goku slapped away just as quickly. Ander switched to a high right sweeping kick that Goku pushed away, causing Ander to spin on his left foot. He used the spin and switched feet, bringing a left back kick that Goku jumped away from.

'_I can't let him hit me_,'Goku thought just before planting his hands on Ander's back and flipping over his dive tackle.

Ander turned around and ran speedily at Goku with another weight packed punch. Goku ducked under it and returned a quick one-two punch to his ribs. He brought his elbow up, swept it across Ander's face and followed through with a punch to the shoulder. Then, he pushed Ander back and laid a powerful energy laced punch on his face that sent him flying backwards a ways.

Goku caught up and continued the assault with a right uppercut, then a left across the face, and a spinning backhand that knocked Ander back to the floor.

Ander landed on his feet whipped around and tried to high kick Goku under the chin, but Goku leaned back enough to miss it. Goku flipped in the air and spun around, landing a heel kick right on top of Ander's head and slamming his face into the floor.

Ander curled up on the floor in pain while Goku took a cautious step toward where he lay. Ander didn't move. Goku sensed that Ander's ki was in a state of weakness, but knew that he might be faking. Just then, a couple of Ander's palm blasts burst out of the floor behind Goku and caught him off guard.

When Goku turned to slap away the blasts, Ander leapt up and, using Goku's shoulders as a boost, pushed off into the air and propelled himself higher. Ander twisted around and threw blasts, like fastballs, from both hands as he flew backwards. Instead of exploding, the blasts stretched out like wires and flew around a pillar that was behind Goku. Ander landed about a hundred feet away and yanked the ki wires, that were attached to each of his fingers, causing them to swing around both Goku and the pillar. As the wires became taught, they dragged Goku against the giant marble column and bound him to it.

'_Damn, these wires are strong. I could get out using my power, but I promised myself that I'd keep to his level. This is certainly going to be interesting_…' Goku ceased struggling and waited for the next move.

With Goku successfully tied up, Ander slapped his two hands together and ignited his aura. The aura shined brightly all around his body just before migrating down through his arms and exploding like a flamethrower toward Goku.

The beam struck Goku dead on and burned as hot, and as brightly, as the sun. It was so hot that it burned a hole through the marble pillar behind Goku. The heat singed away at the cloth of his tights, as well as the cloth of his blindfold. Goku tightly shut his eyes so he wouldn't ruin the match by seeing anything. The protective ki shell he had formed around himself was effective at shielding the body, but not much else. When the blast dissipated, Goku was left without armor and just barely enough cloth to cover his bits and pieces. If you know what I mean.

"Wooh! Yeah! Take it off baby!" a few of the girls in the class yelled out.

"No talking," Curi said as she waved her finger at her sitting students. "It's blindfold time."

"Aw, man," the majority of the class sighed.

Ander breathed heavily from the effort put forth and couldn't believe it when he sensed that Goku was unharmed by his strongest attack. And he was also curious as to why all the girls were whistling.

Goku raised his hand and waved it around to get Curi's attention while still holding his eyes tightly shut. "Curi-sensei! I'm all out of blindfold!" '_And why is it so breezy in here all of a sudden_?'

Curi appeared at Goku's side, quickly replacing the blindfold and then rejoining the rest of the students.

"Ah, thank you," Goku sighed relief as he could finally relax his tense eye muscles. '_No more messing around_…'

Goku spread his feet shoulder length apart and channeled ki into them. Then, he power sprinted toward Ander who had recovered somewhat.

Ander took off as well and, in a matter of seconds, was engaged in a furious punch out with Goku. They delivered lightning fast blows back and forth for what seemed like an eternity. They'd disappear every now and then, and come back into focus only once in awhile. After a stalemate in the flash fighting department, they resumed a less sophisticated style.

Ander flew at Goku with a sweeping backhand across his face. Goku caught the hand and pulled Ander close in, head-butting him, then repeatedly kneed his gut. His attack was nullified by Ander's farts and he was forced to back off to get fresh air. Ander used this to his advantage and began chasing Goku around in a cloud of fart. He wanted Goku to run out of oxygen and let his guard down.

All of a sudden Goku stopped and spoke. "This is…a little trick…I learned from my friend…Tienshinhan," he breathed. Then, he assumed a power up stance and began screaming while clasping his hands together.

Ander couldn't see what was going on so he wasn't worried in the least. He heard Goku, and it sounded like he was powering up, but he couldn't sense a rising power level, so he let Goku proceed.

Curi was the only one to see what was going on as she was without blindfold. 'That boy is out of this world…'

Goku began to separate. His body literally split apart at the seams. Down the middle, his body divided and became two Goku's. Then, the two new Goku's each spawned an extra Goku, leaving a total of four. Because only his body multiplied and not his power, Goku still registered as a single person.

Ander was utterly confused. One moment, his opponent was in front of him and the next, he was surrounding him. It didn't make sense. He couldn't understand why Goku would use a speed based illusionary technique to fake like there was more than one of him. It was pointless since neither of them could see. Little did he know, that it was in fact four bodies, each with one fourth the power of the original.

All of the Goku's closed the distance and tackled Ander from all sides, who hesitated because of his uncertainty. One wrapped his arm around Anders back from behind, while two others grabbed a hold of his legs and held him still. The final one came in front and landed a powerful double fisted blow into his chest, knocking the air out his lungs.

Ander absorbed the full force because he was immobilized and coughed up a little blood.

The three Goku's holding Ander released their grip and allowed him to slump a bit. Then, the fourth pulled his arms back and, with open palms, began chanting. "Ka-me-ha-me…Haaaa!" he shouted as he pushed his arms forward and unleashed the wave at point blank range. Ander didn't defend and was hit by the blast, but it was only strong enough to push him, not engulf him.

All four Goku's took off, ran past Ander, and got in the distant path of the blast that was carrying him. They lined up single file and waited a little bit while crouching. Before Ander got close enough, the two in the back jumped off of the second ones shoulders and flew into the air. When Ander got right up on the first two Goku's, the Kamehameha curved vertically and, with two kicks from the Goku's on the floor to help it, launched Ander into a ninety degree climb. The third and fourth were waiting for him and, when he reached their height, they spun their bodies and repeatedly slammed kicks down on him like two windmills. Ander fell off of the blast after it dissipated and was sent flying back down by the windmill twins. They followed him all they way to the floor and, right before hitting, they gave an extra slam onto his back with intertwined fists.

The floor exploded as Ander impacted, shredding the rubber mats and cracking the marble. He twitched and rolled onto his back. He raised his hand and held up his blindfold, signaling forfeit. "I'm done. My ki has run out." Then he let his arm drop.

"So…did I win?" the Goku's asked.

"These matches are for the purpose of determining the students' proficiency in adapting ki sensing for battle purposes. You don't have to beat your opponent to prove that your skills are sufficient. This was just a showcase of your abilities, not a contest," Curi explained. "If you had listened earlier, you would know that already." She walked over to Ander and helped him up. "You've passed."

"W- what about me?" the Go-clones asked, removing their blindfolds.

"What about you? You're not even enrolled in this school."

"Oh, yeah," all of the Goku's laughed in unison, "I forgot."

"Besides," Curi continued, "I doubt school has anything to offer to someone like you," she said before carrying Ander to the bench on the wall, where the students had already uncovered their eyes. "Nice show though."

The Goku clones shrugged and followed Curi back over to the wall bench and sat next to Tatalia and her partner. All of the other students moved away because they were freaked out at Goku's multiplicity.

Tatalia leaned over to the closest clone and whispered into his ear. "Hey, Kakarot, do you think you could lose the crowd?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow towards his clonage.

"Oh, sure. It almost slipped my mind." The one right next to Tatalia whistled and the other three jumped onto him and melted into his body. "There we go," he said as he yawned.

'_Disgusting_…'Tatalia shuddered.

"The next match is…" Curi announced, "Tatalia and Kinto. Both of you get over here."

Tatalia gulped as she realized that she was going to have trouble fighting to her full potential with her weights on. She stood up and walked slowly over to Curi. She glanced at Goku one more time before reaching Curi. He just nodded at her. '_A nod? What the hell? How is that supposed to help me? If I'm hindered to the point that I fail this class, I am so gonna kick you're ass_.'

Tatalia and the bucktoothed boy, Kinto, were positioned by Curi after being blindfolded. "Alright you two, you know what to do. When I give the signal, go for it. And don't think that because of the last match my action quota has been satisfied. You'd better keep me awake, otherwise I wont be able to grade you." She turned to the rest of the class. "Put your blindfolds back on."

Everyone, including Goku, retied each others blindfolds and left convenient, yet unnoticeable, gaps in the thickness that allowed them to see.

"Start."


	7. Around The Way

**DISCLAIMER:** notminenotminenotmine...

**CHAPTER 7:** **Around The Way  
**

Goku leaned his back against the wall as he sat on the bench and waited for Tatalia's match to start. He smiled nervously as he noticed Anyun lifting her blindfold to check out his half naked body. He cringed when she licked her lips. Lately, with growing up and being around pubescent girls, he felt more and more like an object the way women looked at him, especially Tatalia. Fighting her off had become more than just a regular occurance, it was now a routine. Every morning he'd wake up on pure instinct just in time to avoid a crazed Tatalia glomp. She'd break his door down at the crack of dawn with a rope in hand and try to catch him and tie him down. Going through the whole ordeal repeatedly was unnerving and as such he had been forced to keep his guard up regardless of location or situation. Although, it wasn't like he hadn't been warned. His dad had informed him of how the females only get worse as they get older.

"Um, excuse me Curi-Sensei," Goku called out to her as he raised his hand.

Curi had just finished checking Kinto's and Tatalia's blindfolds and was about to initiate the match. She paused and turned around to see Goku waving his hand around. "What is it?"

"Could I please get a change of clothes? It's...kind of chilly in here," he quickly added as an excuse. In truth, he could feel the gazes of every girl in the class through the thin blindfolds and was tired of the attention.

"Do I look like a closet to you?"

"Well, no, but I-"

"But what? You can't handle a little exposure? If you don't want them to look at you then go get clothes yourself. Geez, kids these days don't want to do anything themselves. Lazy bastards..." she mumbled to herself before returning her attention to the match that had yet to start.

_'She's pretty good,' _he thought. _'I guess an excuse was pointless...'_ He got up and prepared to leave.

"Kakarot, if you miss my match I'll never forgive you!" Tatalia yelled as he opened one of the gym doors.

Goku paused and turned around. "Relax, I'll be back in no time. As long as you don't lose right away there should be plenty for me to see."

"But I will if I can't take these off!" she yelled as she shook a leg, indicating the weights.

"Fine, whatever. You can take 'em off for now. But they go back on as soon as it's over, alright?"

"Yes!! Yes!! Yes!!" Tatalia cheered as she hopped up and down in excitement.

"Later," Goku waved before shutting the door behind him.

He wasted no time and blasted off at full speed, deciding to get a safe distance away so Curi wouldn't sense his instant transmission. As soon as he could no longer see the school he transmitted himself directly back to his bedroom and went for his closet. What he had failed to remember however was the fact that the only other outfit he owned besides his elite suit was his low class one. And he had significantly outgrown it since his arrival two years ago. He just hadn't changed it since he never went anywhere. He then went for a box in the top of his closet where he kept the money left over from his second prize at the tournament. He wasn't much of a spender but he knew it might come in handy later so he kept it there for times like this.

"I wonder what kind of street clothes the poeple on this planet wear..." he said aloud. "Well, whatever. I guess I'll see what the stores in the city have."

He grabbed a wad of cash, folded it up, and stuffed it into one of his boots. He then closed his eyes and stretched out with his senses until he found the city again. With his target identified, he transmitted.

He materialized in the sky over downtown and immediately decended to the streets, taking notice of people carrying shopping bags. They entered a multi story building across the street with manequins in the windows. That was good enough for him. He waited until there were no hover cars coming and crossed the street. When he reached the revolving doors he was stopped by a doorman clad in a ruffled black coat and brown slacks. He pointed to a sign in the window.

"I don't get it," Goku said ignorantly. He hadn't taken the time to learn how to read Saiyan since it wasn't essential to his training.

"No shirt, no shoes, no enter," the doorman stated plainly.

"For real?" Goku asked. After receiving a nod from the doorman he pulled a bill from his boot and waved it at him. He was immediately let in after a series of bows and 'thank you's' from the guy. _'Hm, must've been a lot. Well, there's plenty more where that came from.'_

He was immediately swamped by the sales people who had seen him wave the big bucks around and escorted around the first floor while they attempted to sell him on the high quality merchandise they carried.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_'Where are you?' _Tatalia thought as she dodged yet another blow from Kinto. _'It shouldn't take this long, unless you didn't use instant transmission.'_ She leapt easily over Kinto's head and, with a well placed kick to the back of his neck, knocked him into one of the craters left by her weights. _'I can't drag this out forever, it's starting to get boring.'_

Kinto pulled himself out of the crater within the crater he had created when he slammed into the floor. He knew he had no chance left. The moment she took the weights off he knew he was in trouble. All he could do now was continue to fight until Tatalia got bored and stopped or Curi interrupted. He doubted either would happen anytime soon. Just as he began to shake the dust and chunks of floor out of his hair he was bombarded with a barrage of hand blasts. _'Will this never end?'_

Tatalia hovered above the crater and continued to let loose wave after wave of hand blasts while she decided what to do to next to make it interesting. After about five minutes of straight blasts she ceased and dropped into the crater. She landed beside Kinto and bitch slapped him upside the head with the back of her hand, sending him sailing upwards. When he got high enough she flashed to his location and flipped his body horizontally so she could sit on his back while he fell. She directed his decent like a sled while using his arms as reigns and made sure he slammed face first into the floor. She flipped off just in time to avoid feeling any impact herself. She then grabbed his ankles as he laid sprawled out on the gym floor and proceeded to swing him around wildly, making sure to hit pillars along the way.

Kinto faded in and out of consciousness as his body was utilized as a tool by Tatalia. He was so out of it that he didn't notice when she let go of him and sent his body flying into a wall at the far end of the gym.

Just as Tatalia was about to fly after Kinto and resume the beat down of the century she was stopped when Curi called an end to the match.

"Aw, come on, please Curi-Sensei," Tatalia begged, "Kinto's fine, isn't that right?" she laughed lightly as she turned to Kinto.

Kinto shakily rose to his feet and took several steps while leaning against the wall. "Curi-Sensei, thank god. I didn't know how much more I could stand. Tatalia's insane! Insane I tell you! Please, call an ambulance. I think my arm is broken..." he said, indicating his limp left arm with the elbow bent in the wrong direction.

"I didn't end it to help you out Kinto," Curi explained, "It was simply because you violated the rules when you allowed yourself to be thrown out of bounds. Remember, our class was supposed to be limited to this side of the gym. You fail."

"What?" Kinto yelled in surprise. "B-but Tatalia's the one who threw me out of bounds!"

"Indeed she did. However, did I not state at the beginning of this exam that it was up to each individual to be aware of the boundaries using their senses and to keep themselves within the limits? I'm afraid that this is on you, Kinto. Please leave immediately. The attendants in the office will see to your injuries. See you next year."

"Ooh, that was pretty harsh, huh?" Nomato whispered into Anyun's ear as they observed from the benches with the rest of the class.

"Yeah, she's cold," Anyun replied.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" Tatalia shouted. "Stupid Kakarot! Why'd you have to miss my spectacular display of prowess! You hear me, you idiot!"

"Of course I can hear you, there's no need to shout," Goku said as he shut the door behind him. "What'd I miss?"

The first response he got from Tatalia was one of her wrist weights thrown straight at his face. He side stepped and caught it easily in the palm of his hand. As he twirled it around his index finger he surveyed Tatalia as she trembled in anger. She appeared to be pretty mad. Although, she was sort of justified since he had failed to keep his word yet again.

"You...lowsy...unreliable...piece of..." Tatalia mumbled as she slowly approached Goku with a raised fist.

_'Shit...'_ Goku thought as she neared. _'This isn't good. She does have a point about me being unreliable though. Maybe I'm not completely the same as I originally was in the other universe. I guess this version of myself must have deep seeded issues with taking stuff seriously. I've been here so long that I've literally become this other person! How weird. Well, at least my sense to judge things objectively hasn't been affected. What am I saying? I shouldn't be analyzing stuff at a time like this, I'm about to get my ass beat!'_

"Kakarot..." Tatalia said through clenched teeth after stopping directly in front of him.

Goku swallowed the lump in his throat. _'Here it comes. I'll just dodge until she gets tired. Get ready for it, get ready for it, get ready for it...'_

Just as Goku had finished steeling himself for a case of spousal abuse, Tatalia dropped her fists and let her shoulders slump. She took a few steps back as she inhaled several slow deep breaths to calm herself. Goku held his position and watched her carefully making sure not to let his guard down. After several minutes of suspense Tatalia's frown disappeared and was replaced with a light smile.

"Curi-Sensei," Tatalia started as she removed her blindfold, "Is it okay to leave now that I've completed today's exam?"

Curi thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I suppose it doesn't matter since you're already done. Go on ahead."

"Thanks," Tatalia said with a smile before running happily over to Goku and grabbing his hand. "Let's go," she said without a trace of anger towards him.

"Um, okay," Goku said, thoroughly confused. He followed Tatalia outside as she pulled him by the hand.

Anyun, Nomato, and Ander immediately raised their hands as soon as Goku and Tatalia were gone.

"Yes?" Curi asked.

"Um...does that mean we can go too?" Anyun asked with her hand still in the air.

Curi shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."

"Alright!!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Goku nervously looked over at Tatalia periodically as they flew back towards Bardock's land. She appeared to be in a pleasant mood. For what reason, he was completely clueless. Whatever it was he was just glad to avoid another confrontation with her. While it was a given that Goku could easily defeat her without breaking a sweat, one thing which had him always dreading a fight with her was that she'd cry everytime she would lose. And trying to console her was out of the question because whenever he'd make an attempt at cheering her up she'd get all touchy feely and try to make a move on him. So usually he'd just not fight back.

"Nice threads," Tatalia complimented as she inspected his new clothes for the first time. He had a skin tight black sleeveless turtleneck which appeared to be made of the same material as his blue elite suit. For bottoms he wore black cargo pants with pockets near the knees and tucked them into black military style boots which, instead of laces, had three evenly spaced adjustable metal straps on the front to make a snug fit.

"Uh...thanks," Goku replied.

"Crap, I forgot my weights!" Tatalia suddenly gasped.

"Don't worry about it. We've got plenty more at home." Goku paused before continuing. "I'm sorry for missing your match..."

"Yeah, well...what's done is done. We shouldn't dwell on the past. Let's just move forward."

"Tatalia, I've got to be honest. You're really confusing me. I mean, you should be angry right now. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but I really do feel guilty about missing your match and I want to make it up to you. I'll even let you hit me if you want to."

"Relax, Kakarot. I was mad at first, but then I realized that hitting you wouldn't change anything so I let it go."

"Just like that?" Goku asked skeptically.

"It was difficult, but yeah. Although, I'm not gonna completely forget this so easily. I may have been able to let go of the anger then, but that doesn't mean that I don't want retribution. I'm just saving it up for the right time. Just keep in mind that you owe me and if you don't want it to pile up you'd better behave."

"I get it now. That's why she was smiling," Goku mumbled to himself. _'She's definitely planning something. I knew there was no way she would let me get off scott free.'_

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Vegeta sweat bullets as he neared his fifteen hundredth sit up. He had recently upgraded his personal training chamber to handle one thousand times gravity and currently had it set on six hundred. Five hundred was the farthest he'd ever been able to train normally as a Super Saiyan one and he was now trying to up the ante. His proven method of increasing the gravity twenty points after every two thousand repetitions of whatever exercise seemed to be working just fine. If he had pushed it all the way to six hundred from the start and tried to train normally his body would have naturally went into Super Saiyan two to accommodate the strain. But it was all in the pursuit of a greater goal. The further he increased the limits of his Super forms, the stronger his normal form became. And having an inconspicuously strong normal form was a great advantage on the battle field. The strength of his normal form was currently about one and a half times stronger than that of his Super Saiyan form when he tranformed for the first time. With results like that, it's a wonder why everyone didn't train as thoroughly as him.

After reaching his goal of two thousand he decided to call it a day. Increasing his limit another hundred times in less than half a day seemed to satisfy him. He stood up and after toweling himself off walked lightly over to the console. He stared at the numbers while he thought. The meter was able to go to one thousand now. While he had trained in one thousand before it had only been while in his Super Saiyan three state. He wondered if he could now take his level two to one thousand. He was already kind of winded but it nagged at him from deep down. He hadn't gone past level one since he and Goku had arrived.

"Aw, what the hell," he said aloud. He threw down his towel and ignited his aura. Since he was sure his level one couldn't stand it, he decided that powering up before increasing the gravity to max was a better idea. He spread his feet shoulder's width apart and grit his teeth as his energy climbed higher and higher. However, the well of energy he expected to feel just before the transformation into level two was missing. _'Impossible!'_ He furrowed his brow and closed his eyes as he searched for the missing power. He withdrew into himself and searched frantically for any sign of his next levels. When he found nothing, he opened his eyes and walked back to the console. He immediately shut it down and grabbed his shirt and towel before running out, not even bothering to power down.

_'This is bad, very bad!'_ he screamed internally while putting his shirt back on as he made his way through the palace halls. Every maid and palace guard he passed by stared at him with wide eyes as the fully ignited aura of his Super Saiyan form disentigrated their scouters. Once he made it into the palace court yard he threw his towel down on a bench and blasted off in the direction of Bardock's land. He flew like his life depended on it. He literally maxed his speed out as crossed half the continent in under thirty seconds.

"Kakarot!!" he called out as soon as he landed. "Come outside, it's an emergency!!"

As he yelled, Goku rushed outside to greet him, sensing the panic in his aura. "What is it? Is everything alright?" he asked in a tone just as urgent as Vegeta had. "Why do have your aura expanded like that?"

"Kakarot, I strongly advise that you power up as high as you can go and keep your aura expanded indefinitely."

"What? Why?"

Vegeta grabbed Goku's shoulders and stared him square in the eyes. "Just trust me and do it. I have to be sure it's not just me. I'll explain afterwards."

Goku looked at him questionably before nodding. "Okay, man. If you really want me to." He then backed away several feet and prepared to unleash the full force of his aura. "Haaaaaa!!!!!!!!!" he yelled as the familiar golden aura erupted around him. "Level one, check." He took a deep breath then resumed the climb. He grit his teeth as he called forth the next level.

Vegeta stood in suspense as he waited to see if Super Saiyan two would come for Goku.

Goku's muscles twitched as electricity began to dance around his body. His already gravity defying hair became even more spikey and left only a couple of spikes hanging in front of his face. "Level two, check." He noticed Vegeta's shoulders sink and the confused reaction on his face. "Was something supposed to happen?"

"I don't get it..." Vegeta trailed off.

"Should I continue all the way to four?" Goku asked.

"Huh?" Vegeta asked after a short daze.

"Do you really want me to go all the way to level four?"

Suddenly it clicked in Vegeta's mind. "That's it! It must be because I couldn't go as high to begin with! Yeah, keep going Kakarot!"

"Alright. Here goes," he said before hunching over and pulling out even more power. "Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!! Here it comes," he said, expecting the sudden growth of his hair and the rush of level three power.

Vegeta was not surprised when it didn't come. He figured since Goku already had one more level than him, and the fact that he'd spent the past two years in his level one form, that it contributed to keeping him from losing as much power as himself.

"What the hell?" Goku shouted as he kept his aura at full blast while he scanned himself.

"You won't find anything, Kakarot," Vegeta said as he approached. "The same thing happened to me. Right now, level one is the highest I can go. You should be grateful that you can still go that high."

"What the hell's going on out here?" Tatalia yelled as she rushed outside after having sensed the intense power of Goku's second level of Super Saiyan. "Kakarot, this is _your_ power?" she asked in awe.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"When did you become so strong? In the entire two years you spent as a Super Saiyan, I never once felt this immense amount of strength from you."

"I guess that means he didn't explain everything to you," Vegeta cut in.

"Explain what?" Tatalia asked Vegeta.

"The true depths of a Super Saiyan's power," he said after folding his arms over his chest. "I'll let you tell her since she's your wife, Kakarot."

"Thanks." Goku walked over to Tatalia and placed a hand on her shoulder. "There is more than one type of Super Saiyan. Right now I'm what you'd call a Super Saiyan two. There are two more levels beyond this one. The third looks similar to this with blond hair and all, however the fourth is the most unique. You've seen what the oozaru form looks like right?"

"Yeah, of course. Who hasn't?"

"Well, level four is based on a similar principle. It requires a tail and light reflected from the moon or some other celestial body. It is essentially the ultimate and complete form of the oozaru. While it appears to take the body back to a slighty more primitive state, it is the most powerful."

"So what you're saying is, that the oozaru is the pinnacle of Super Saiyan?" she asked.

"Well, we don't actually become the oozaru. It's more like our normal bodies take on the characteristics of the oozaru."

Tatalia tried to picture it in her mind but failed miserably as all she could imagine was a human sized oozaru. "Really? So, both you and Vegeta have this power?"

"Not anymore," Vegeta said with a sigh.

"What? How come?"

"No idea," Goku said, powering down.

"Hey," Vegeta shouted at Goku, "I thought I told you to stay powered up! From now on, both of us must maintain our maximum forms for as long as it takes to recover what we've lost. We are going to do what you and Gohan did before the Cell games and what you did while you trained your father. And each time we manage to recover another form, we'll stay in that one until we have the next one, understood?"

Goku looked at Vegeta reluctantly. "I don't know...I mean, staying at level one for a long time isn't that big a deal, but level two? I don't know if it'd be safe to be in close proximity to people while fully powered up like that. And I don't even want to think about three..."

Goku's words did nothing but agitate Vegeta further. "Listen to you! You've become soft! What happened to your endless supply of motivation? You're pathetic! Or are you content with being reduced to nothing but a helpless child! If that's how you're gonna be, then I don't care what happens to you! But know this, I intend to go ahead with my training, so if you don't want to fall behind then I suggest you rethink the situation!"

Goku stood in stunned silence for a few seconds._ 'He's right, what was I thinking? I was always moving forward in pursuit of the unknown depths of power before. Just because I already know what lies ahead right now doesn't mean it won't be meaningful.'_ Goku quickly regained his wits and jumped straight into his level two form. "Thank you, Vegeta."

"Heh, it seems you've developed lazy tendencies. Don't expect me to come lecture you everytime you need motivation," Vegeta smirked.

"I feel refreshed," Goku said after taking a deep breath. "It looks like we've got an old fashioned race on our hands and I have a head start. I don't think you should waste your time lecturing me either. You're gonna need as little distraction as possible because I'm heading straight for the top and I expect you to meet me there on time."

Vegeta's smirk turned into a grin. "You're on."

Tatalia shivered. _'It's weird to see Prince Vegeta smiling like that. It feels wrong somehow.'_ "Um, hey, now that you guys are all done do you want to come in for some tea and cookies while we wait for the rice to be done?"

Both Goku and Vegeta paused and turned their attention to Tatalia.

"Kakarot," Vegeta whispered to Goku from the side of his mouth, "You didn't tell me she knew her way around the kitchen."

"It's news to me," he whispered back.

"Come on," she said, waving them over.

Five minutes later, Goku and Vegeta sat at the kitchen table while waiting for Tatalia to bring the tea and cookies.

"So, this is the inside of Bardock's home..." Vegeta observed. "How quaint."

"Dude, you live in a palace," Goku started, "it's impossible for everything else to be anything but quaint from your perspective."

"You may have a point there..."

"Here we are," Tatalia said as she carried over the tray with the tea and cookies on it and set it down at the table. She placed a cup in front of Vegeta and poured his tea first. "Sugar cubes?"

"Sure, make it three," Vegeta said before grabbing a cookie.

"Hey," Goku interrupted, "How come you're serving Vegeta before me?"

"Because he's the Prince, dear, and you're just my lousy, good for nothing husband," she said in the sweetest tone she could manage.

"Ha ha, you lose Kakarot," Vegeta laughed with a mouthful of cookie.

"There you go," she said to Vegeta before setting the teapot back onto the tray and closing the lid on the sugar.

"Thanks."

Tatalia moved the cookie plate from the tray to the table then took the teapot and everything else away.

"Hey, what about me?" Goku asked.

"Relax, I've got something for you right here," Tatalia said as she placed a cup with a different kind of tea in front of him.

"What's this, how come I can't have what Vegeta's having?"

"Because that tea's for him and this one's for you, now drink up before it starts to cool down. You'll like it, trust me."

"Oh, too bad, Kakarot. I guess when normal people are around royalty like me they just sort of tend to neglect everything else."

"I'm sorry, could you rephrase that, Vegeta. I don't think it was quite arrogant enough."

"Calm down you two," Tatalia interrupted, deciding to end Goku and Vegeta's verbal sparring match before it started. "It's just tea for crying out loud. Stop bickering and drink it."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure," Goku mumbled before picking up his cup and taking a sip.

"This is pretty good," Vegeta complimented, after having tasted his as well. He then turned to Goku. "How's your-" he cut himself off when he saw Goku gulping down the scalding hot tea at a rapid pace. "What the..."

"Wow!" Goku breathed after finishing the cup and setting it down. "That was delicious! Tal, what kind of tea was that? I've never had any _that_ good before!"

"It's a secret recipe." she said as she winked at Goku. "You want another cup?"

"Absolutely!" Goku yelled in glee as he fidgeted around.

Vegeta sat silently and watched as Tatalia brought cup after cup of the special tea for Goku to inhale. _'Something's not right about this. She's put something into that tea to affect Kakarot in some way, I just know it. The question is, why and to what end? It's like he's become instantly addicted to it or something. Watch yourself, Kakarot. That woman is up to something...'_

"Man, that's good!" Goku said, catching his breath after downing his eighth cup of tea. He was so wired that the little sparks of electricity that normally lingered around his body as a Super Saiyan two spread to the cups he had been touching and even to the chair he was sitting in. "Vegeta, you gotta try this, man! I don't know what she gave you, but this is sure to beat it out!"

"No!! He can't!" Tatalia quickly raised her voice, stopping Goku from sliding one of his cups over to Vegeta.

"Why not?"

"Like I said before," she said, trying not to appear nervous, "This is yours and that is his."

"Thanks anyway Kakarot, but I'd rather not," Vegeta said, pulling out his chair and standing up. _'Definitely suspicious...she nearly freaked out when he offered it to me.'_ "I'm just gonna head home now and do a little light training after I eat lunch. I'll see you later."

"Okay, later," Goku waved as Vegeta stepped out onto the patio and blasted off. "I guess that means I should start training as well. You wanna train with me?"

"Can I?"

"Of course," Goku smiled while leaning back in his chair. "Now that my dad's a Super Saiyan I don't have to worry about him, so you and I can work together to help you reach Super Saiyan while I try to regain my lost power. How does that sound?"

"Awesome!" Tatalia shouted as she jumped for joy. "From now on we'll be the ultimate team!"

"Are you ready?" he asked. When she nodded he got up and grabbed her hand, taking her upstairs.

"Where are we going?" she asked curiously.

"My room."

Tatalia immediately blushed. This was the first time that Goku had actaully invited her into his room. "Oh, Kakarot, we shouldn't. I mean, I want to...but maybe it's just too soon..." She giggled in excitement at the thought of what they might do while alone in his room. "I know that if we did _that,_ we'd become much closer, but I'm still so nervous. Please, be gentle with me."

"What're you talking about?" Goku asked after they reached his door.

"You know..." Tatalia nervously mumbled while twidling her thumbs and blushing a bright red. "Doing..._it_..." she said very quietly. "Why else would we come up to your room together?"

Just then, it clicked with Goku's brain. "Oh shit! You mean doing _it_? How in the hell did you get a crazy idea like that in your head! We're just here to get the weights out of my closet. I have wristband weights, belt weights, and shin weights of different densities that I wanted you to try on. And since I can't possibly carry all of them outside at once, I brought you up here. Damn, you really jump to your own conclusions don't you."

"Oh...my bad," she said, dissapointment written all over her face.

"Don't worry about it, Tal. Just don't try to grow up too fast." Goku paused and closed his eyes, letting a slight smile come across his face as a feeling of nostalgia came over him. "I remember my first time pretty clearly. Prior to that I had no clue about anything remotely related to the subject. So the girl basically gave me a crash course on the basic idea of what was supposed to happen. Man, was I surprised. Looking back on it now, I think I couldv'e waited longer."

"Wait a second!!!" Tatalia shouted. "You mean to say that you're not a virgin? Nooooo!!!!! It's not fair!!!!" she cried. Her tears vanished as quickly as they had appeared and were replaced by anger. "Who is this girl? Where is she? I'll beat the shit outta her! Just point the way and lemme at her! You're mine and no one elses!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, Tal," Goku said, trying to appease her by rubbing her back. "I didn't cheat on you with her. That happened long before I ever met you. I'm from earth, remember? That's over half a galaxy away, not to mention that Vegeta and I came through some sort of rift in space. So the earth in this universe probably isn't even the same."

"But...I wanted to be your first..." she said, losing grasp of the anger rapidly.

"Well, if it makes you feel better, I'm technically a virgin since I was reverted to a state before I ever did anything like that. So you could say that I'm a virgin of this universe."

"Yeah, I guess...but still..."

"Just forget about nonsense like that for now and let's focus on training, alright?"

Tatalia sighed and shook the images of Goku with another woman out of her head. "Fine. I'll train like I've never trained before to become the strongest woman on this planet. Not even that ex-girlfriend of yours will be able to top me. I'll become the best!"

"That's the spirit!" Goku encouraged. "Find a purpose that motivates you and hold onto it!"

Tatalia took on the guise of a serious person and walked into Goku's room first. She went straight for his closet and the weights. "What's the heaviest thing you have?" she asked over her shoulder.

"I don't think you'd want to wear those...unless of course you think you can walk around weighing several hundred tons. In which case I'd say be my guest. However, even in my level two form I can't wear a full set of weights that heavy. That's why I have the weights in pieces. So I can move them around easily. The weights you had on before are ideal for your current state, but you did seem to adjust pretty quickly to them. You could probably handle the next stage and be okay. But I warn you, you seriously won't be able to do anything but walk around for the first month. It's not like I'll be forbidding you to run or jump or do any other exercise. It's just that those activities will be physically impossible for you at first."

Tatalia's determination did not waver. "I'll take 'em."

Goku picked them up for her and loaded them into a duffle bag, then chose his weights and did the same. "Alright, the first goal for today is to hike the perimeter of my dad's land while wearing our weights. It's about noon now so we've got until midnight to meet our goal. Shall we?"

"I'm ready!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Eighty-eight, eighty-nine, ninety, ninety-one, ninety-two, ninety-three, ninety-four, nin-"

"Raditz, honey! The news is on!"

Raditz immediately set the weight bar down and rushed upstairs to the living room, leaving his private workout basement behind. "The King hasn't started his state of the planet address yet has he?" he asked as he approached Anko from behind the couch.

"They're just about to show him now," she said, turning the volume up on the holo screen.

"Hold on a second," he said before running into the kitchen to get a bottle of water out of the fridge. He quickly returned to the couch and took a seat next to his wife. "Alright."

On screen, a podium with several microphones stood in front of a crowd of reporters. It appeared to be in the palace's conference hall. Behind the podium hung a massive red curtain with the royal seal embroidered on it.

"Ladies and gentlemen," a royal advisor's voice announced over the intercom in the room, "The noble ruler of all Saiyans, King Vegita."

Vegita walked out from behind the red curtain following his introduction. "Thank you." He took a few seconds to clear his throat. "My fellow Saiyans! As you know, we've been tirelessly pursuing the elusive legend of the Super Saiyan, trying to unlock it's secrets in hope of strengthening our race and weighing the odds in our favor in the conflict against Frieza's Empire and his reptilian armies. As your king I believe I speak for all of us when I say that it is our evolutionary right to have full access to the Super Saiyan powers which our forefathers relied so heavily on when building up our race. However, we will not make the same mistake they did when they failed to spread the knowledge to the entire populous of our species and lost the way when the last Super passed away.

"I stand before you today with news that will forever alter the path that we as a race have been following. The Super Saiyan is no longer just a legend with sketchy details scribbled in the ancient archives of our ancestor's temples. We now have a living example of what we hope will be the key to ending the monopoly that Frieza holds over this quadrant of our galaxy. We have Super Saiyans at last!"

The room was immediately filled with the roar of reporters shouting out their questions and relaying their opinions over the broadcast. Several seconds later, Bardock was escorted to the podium and greeted by King Vegita, who raised his hands and silenced the crowd.

"I believe you already know who I am about to introduce to you," Vegita started. "The man who devised the plan to fool Frieza, one of the leading scientists in the entire planet, and an elite warrior. I give you Bardock, the Super Saiyan!"

The crowd once again broke into an uproar but silenced themselves as soon as Bardock began to speak.

"Thank you, your majesty. I must say what an honor it is to be here today and have the pleasure to be the one to deliver the news personally on the greatest project of my life." He paused and took a sip from a water bottle on a nearby table. "I will now show you all the Super Saiyan transformation which I have been perfecting for the last two years. Feel free to direct any questions you have towards me following the demonstration."

With that, a couple of attendants came and removed the podium from the stage to make a clear view for the spectators.

"Behold!" Bardock yelled, "Haaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!! Super Saiyan!" In an instant his skin became slightly more pale, his hair a gravity defying blonde, a shining golden aura, and piercing teal eyes.

Just before they could refocus their eyes from the bright light, the screen turned to static.

"What the hell?" Raditz shouted at the screen.

"I don't know what's up with this thing," Anko said as she fiddled with the remote. She changed channels and it appeared to be working. "Hm, must just be a problem with the broadcast."

"Dad finally did it..." Raditz breathed in awe. "Man, I wonder what's gonna happen now that it's gone public..."


End file.
